Adam Carr's Election Archive

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Australian federal election, 2019
Division of Cooper, Victoria

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Northern Melbourne: Bundoora, Northcote, Preston, Reservoir, Thornbury
State seats: All of Northcote and Preston, parts of Bundoora, Pascoe Vale, Richmond and Thomastown
Local government areas: All of Darebin, parts of Moreland and Yarra

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Enrolment at close of rolls: 110,786

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1999 republic referendum: Yes 61.3
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 71.2

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Sitting member: Ged Kearney (Labor): Elected 2018 by-election

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2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 26.0% *
2010 Labor majority over Greens: 7.9% *
2013 Labor majority over Greens: 10.6% *
2016 Labor majority over Greens 1.0% *
2018 by-election Labor majority over Greens 4.4% *
2019 notional Labor majority over Liberal: 21.8% *

* for Batman

Status: Very marginal Labor versus Greens
Status: Very safe Labor versus Liberal

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Best Labor booths, two-party vote: Merrilands (75.9), Burbank (75.3), Ruthven (71.1), Kingsbury (69.8), Preston North-East (67.9)
Best Greens booths, two-party vote: Northcote West (71.7), Northcote South (66.5), Clifton Hill (66.2), Thornbury (65.4), Westgarth (65.4)

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2016 results

2018 by-election results

Statistics and history

Candidates in ballot-paper order:

1. Teresa Van Lieshout Independent	2. Sarah Russell Reason Australia	3. Brett Nangle United Australia Party	4. Nadine Richings Animal Justice Party	5. David Risstrom Australian Greens

6. Kath Larkin Victorian Socialists	7. Ged Kearney Australian Labor Party	8. Andrew Bell Liberal Party

Candidate websites:

Andrew Bell
Ged Kearney
David Risstrom
Kath Larkin

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Division of Cooper

Cooper is the new name for the former seat of Batman*, which was created in 1906, when the old seat of Northern Melbourne was renamed. It is thus the only federal electorate to be renamed twice. It is one of the most heavily multi-cultural and solidly working-class seats in Australia, with nearly 30% born in non English speaking countries. Until the 1970s it was based largely on Northcote, while the Preston-Reservoir area was in the old seat of Darebin, which was renamed Scullin in 1969. Since the 1970s boundary changes have extended the seat to the north, taking in not only Preston and Reservoir but also Bundoora and Macleod. In recent years the southern part of the seat has become increasingly gentrified, but the northern half of the seat is still solidly working-class.

Since 1910 the seat has elected a non-Labor member only twice, in the UAP landslide year of 1931 and in 1966, when the sitting Labor member was expelled and retained the seat as an independent. Brian Howe, who won Batman in 1977, was a stalwart of the Socialist Left, a senior minister in the Hawke and Keating governments and Deputy Prime Minister from 1991 to 1995. He was succeeded in 1996 by former ACTU President Martin Ferguson, who was a senior minister in the Rudd-Gillard Government. Ferguson was officially a member of the Left but took an independent line on many issues. He retired in 2013 and was succeeded by David Feeney, a Labor Senator for Victoria from 2008 to 2013. In early 2018, when it became clear that Feeney could not document that he had renounced any possible claim to British citizenship he might have through his British-born father, he resigned, and did not contest the subsequent by-election.

Although Batman was the safest Labor seat in Australia in two-party terms, the Greens have come second at every election since 2010. In 2013 Feeney's majority over the Greens was a healthy 10.6%, but that was because the Liberals, who came third, directed their preferences to Labor. In 2016 the Labor majority was cut to 1.0%. The 2018 redistribution has removed some Labor territory at the northern end of the seat, slightly cutting the Labor majority. With the Northcote area now voting solidly for the Greens, Labor is fortunate that the Greens have so little support in the northern half of the seat.

At the March 2018 by-election, the Labor candidate was ACTU President Ged Kearney (pronounced Jed Karney). The Liberals did not run. The Greens candidate was Alex Bhathal, who also ran in 2004, 2010, 2013 and 2016. Bhathal's campaign was sabotaged by dissidents in her own party, who leaked internal party allegations of misconduct against her. The result was an unexpectedly solid win for Labor. Bhathal later resigned from the Greens in disgust at the way she had been treated.

Ged Kearney, Labor MP for Batman since the 2018 by-election, was a nurse and nurse educator before becoming an official of the Australian Nursing Federation, of which she was federal secretary 2008-10. She was President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions 2010-18. Given her high profile, her left-wing views and the disarray of the local Greens, she must be considered a good prospect of retaining the newly renamed Cooper in 2019.

The Liberals' last-minute token candidate is Andrew Bell, a small business owner. After a long delay, the Greens endorsed David Risstrom as their candidate. Risstrom is a barrister and long-time environmental activist who was the first Green to win an election in Victoria when he was elected to Melbourne City Council in 1999. He was the lead Greens' Senate candidate in 2004. The Victorian Socialists candidate is Kath Larkin, a railways worker and Rail, Tram and Bus Union activist.

* The renaming followed a campaign to draw attention to John Batman's role in the massacres of Indigenous people in Tasmania in the 1830s.

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Demographics:

Median weekly household income: $1,443 (Australia $1,438)
People over 65: 14.3% (Australia 15.8%)
Australian born: 59.6% (Australia 66.7%)
Ancestry: Italian 10.0%, Greek: 6.2%
Non-English-speaking households: 39.3% (Australia 22.2%)
Catholics 23.7% (Australia 22.6%)
Orthodox Christian: 9.0%
No religion 35.6% (Australia 29.6%)
University graduates: 33.3% (Australia 22.0%)
Professional and managerial employment: 43.9% (Australia 35.2%)
Employed in manufacturing and construction: 18.6% (Australia 22.9%)
Paying a mortgage: % (Australia 34.5%)
Renting: 38.0% (Australia 30.9%)
Traditional families: 29.1% (Australia 32.8%)

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Members for Northern Melbourne (1901-06) and Batman (from 1906):

Hon Henry B Higgins (Prot) 1901-06
Jabez Coon (Prot, Lib) 1906-10
Henry Beard (ALP) 1910-11
Hon Frank Brennan (ALP) 1911b-31
Samuel Dennis (UAP) 1931-34
Hon Frank Brennan (ALP) 1934-49
Alan Bird (ALP) 1949-62
Sam Benson (ALP, Ind) 1962b-69
Horace Garrick (ALP) 1969-77
Hon Brian Howe (ALP) 1977-96
Hon Martin Ferguson (ALP) 1996-2013
Hon David Feeney (ALP) 2013-18
Ged Kearney (ALP) 2018b-

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Boundaries following 2018 redistribution:

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