Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Chisholm, Victoria
South-eastern Melbourne: Box Hill, Burwood, Clayton, Mt Waverley
Sitting member: Anna Burke (Labor), elected 1998. Retiring 2016
Enrolment at close of rolls: 97,434
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 1.6%

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Candidates in ballot-paper order:

1. Melanie Vassiliou
Rise Up Australia
2. Nyree Walshe
Animal Justice Party
3. Craig McCracken
Family First
4. Josh Fergeus
Australian Greens
5. Julia Banks
Liberal Party
6. Stephanie Perri
Australian Labor Party



  • 2013 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Chisholm was created in 1949, and at that time was centred on Camberwell and was a safe Liberal seat. Successive redistributions have pushed it east and south, and now it contains none of its original territory. Today most of its votes are cast in Box Hill, Burwood and Clayton. The 1990 redistribution extended it as far south as Westall, into solidly Labor voting territory, tipping the balance towards Labor. Chisholm has a high median income level and a high proportion of people in professional occupations for a Labor-held seat: the decisive factor may be the high level of people born in non English speaking countries, particularly the 5.4% born in South-East Asia.

    Chisholm's first two members, Sir Wilfrid Kent Hughes and Tony Staley, were both ministers, in the Menzies and Fraser governments respectively. Labor won the seat for the first time in 1983, but in 187, Dr Michael Wooldridge won back for the Liberals. Wooldridge was Health Minister in the Howard Government, but by 1998 Casey was seen as increasingly unsafe by the Liberals, and Wooldridge moved to outer suburban Casey. The seat then passed to Labor's Anna Burke, who has held it ever since.

    Anna Burke, Liberal MP for Chisholm since 1998, was national industrial officer with the Finance Sector Union before entering politics. She was Deputy Speaker from 2008 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2012 and Speaker from 2012 to 2013. She is retring at this election.

    The new Labor candidate in Chisholm is Stephanie Perri, who is an independent public relations consultant and the Mayor of the City of Monash. With a Labor majority of only 1.6% and the loss of Burke's personal vote, the Liberals have high hopes of regaining this seat. The Liberal candidate is Julia Banks, chief general counsel and company secretary of George Weston Foods.






    These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.

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  • The thirty seats that will decide the election
  • Other seats of interest