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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Melbourne, Victoria
Central Melbourne: Ascot Vale, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond
Sitting member: Dr Adam Bandt (Green), elected 2010
Enrolment at close of rolls: 111,628
2013 Greens majority over Labor: 5.3%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Lewis Freeman-Harrison
Australian Sex Party |
2. Sophie Ismail
Australian Labor Party |
3. Le Liu
Liberal Party |
4. Miranda Smith
Animal Justice Party |
5. Dr Adam Bandt
Australian Greens |
6. Matt Riley
Drug Law Reform |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Melbourne has existed since Federation, its boundaries extending gradually outwards at each successive redistribution as the inner suburbs declined
(in relative terms) in population, although this trend has recently been reversed as the inner city has been colonised by wealthy apartment-dwellers.
Suburbs like Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood, once slums, are now wealthy areas populated by affluent professionals. Melbourne is now in the top 20%
of seats in terms of median family income and in the top 10% in terms of people in professional occupations. It also has a high proportion of people
born in non English speaking countries. Conversely, it has very low proportions of families with dependent children and dwellings being purchased.
Labor held Melbourne continuously for over a century. During those decades it was one of the safest Labor seats in the country, and was held for most
that time by two members: Dr Billy Maloney (the longest-serving backbencher in the history of the Australian Parliament) and Arthur Calwell, who was
Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1967. The last Labor member was Lindsay Tanner, who was Minister for Finance in the Rudd Government but retired in
2010 rather than serve under Julia Gillard.
The Greens vote in Melbourne rose from 6.6% in 1996 to 22.8 in 2007, almost all at the expense of Labor, reflecting the rapid demographic change in the
electorate. In 2010, with Tanner's personal vote gone, the Greens polled 36.2% and won the seat on Liberal preferences. In 2013 the Greens polled
42.6%, and won without Liberal preferences. It is difficult to see Labor regaining the seat, since the decline in its traditional vote is continuing.
Only in Ascot Vale and parts of Richmond does Labor still win majority support.
Dr Adam Bandt, Greens MP for Melbourne since 2010, and the first Greens candidate to win a House of Representatives seat at a general election, was a
lawyer with Slater and Gordon (long-time Labor lawyers) before his election. He has a PhD in legal history from Monash University.
The Labor candidate in 2016 is Sophie Ismail, a lawyer who has held senior public service posts and also worked at Holding Redlich (another Labor legal
firm). Ismail was born in East Africa of Indian parents and is a lesbian. When she was chosen, a Labor source was quoted as saying: "If we can't beat
him [Bandt] with the lesbian, human rights lawyer with refugee parents as our candidate then we never will." The Liberal candidate (whose preferences
will probably decide the seat) is Philip Liu*, a management consultant.
*Liu nominated as Le Liu, but the Liberal Party website calls him Philip Liu.
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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