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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of McMillan, Victoria
Eastern Victoria: Leongatha, Moe, Pakenham, Wonthaggi
Sitting member: Russell Broadbent (Liberal), elected 1990, defeated 1993,
elected 1996, defeated 1998, elected 2004
Enrolment at close of rolls: 116,179
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 11.8%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Donna Lancaster
Australian Greens |
2. Kathleen Ipsen
Australian Christians |
3. Norman Baker
Rise Up Australia |
4. Jennifer McAdam
Animal Justice Party |
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5. Jim McDonald
Liberal Democratic Party |
6. Nathan Harding
Family First |
7. Chris Buckingham
Australian Labor Party |
8. Russell Broadbent
Liberal Party |
2013 results
Statistics and history
McMillan was created in 1949, located in the rural West Gippsland region of Victoria. Although it included the coal-mining towns of the La Trobe Valley, it was a safe Liberal
seat until the 1970s, and was not won by Labor until 1980. Since then it has been a marginal seat, changing hands several times, although in 2013 it swung strongly to the
Liberals.
Socially, the seat consists of several parts. Pakenham is a mortgage-belt outer suburb, full of families with dependent children and dwellings being purchased.
The La Trobe Valley (most of which is now in the seat of Gippsland) has declining working-class towns like Moe, with low-income families and high unemployment. South
Gippsland is a dairy farming area, with its coastal areas being colonised by urban exiles. Labor's remaining strength is in the Moe-Newborough area and in the old coal-mining
town of Wonthaggi, while the Liberals dominate the rural areas. Pakenham usually votes Liberal but Labor has some support there.
Between 1980 and 2004, McMillan changed hands six times, and was one of the most hotly-contested seats in the country. Russell Broadbent first won it in 1996, but was defeated
in 1998 by Christian Zahra, who became the youngest member of the House. Zahra retained the seat in 2001, but was greatly disadvantaged by the 2004 redistribution, which moved
the Labor stronghold of Morwell into Gippsland. Broadbent then regained the seat and has held it fairly easily since.
Russell Broadbent, Liberal MP for Corinella from 1990 to 1993 and for McMillan from 1996 to 1998 and from 2004, was a local retailer and Pakenham Shire Councillor before his
election. He has never left the back bench, but has a fairly high profile because of his dissent from some Liberal policies, notably on immigration. Over 26 years he has
accumulated a large personal vote which partly explains the 11.8% Liberal margin in what was once a very marginal seat. The Labor candidate in 2016 will be Chris
Buckingham, former head of the regional tourism organisation Destination Gippsland, who now runs a marketing consultancy in Warragul.
These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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