Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2022
Division of Braddon, Tasmania

Named for: Rt Hon Sir Edward Braddon (1829-1904), Tas MP 1879-88, 1893-1901, Premier 1894-99, federal MP 1901-04


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Northern Tasmania: Burnie, Devonport, Port Sorrell, Ulverstone, Wynyard
State seats: All of Braddon
Local government areas: All of Burnie, Central Coast, Circular Head, Devonport, King Island, Latrobe, Waratah-Wynyard and West Coast
Borders with: Bass and Lyons
Enrolment at 2019 election: 79,244
Enrolment at 2022 election: 82,527 (+04.2)
1999 republic referendum: No 67.8
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 54.0


Sitting member: Gavin Pearce (Liberal): Elected 2019

2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 1.4%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 7.5%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 2.6%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 2.2%
2018 by-election Labor majority over Liberal: 2.2%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 3.1%
Liberal two-party vote 1983-2019

Status: Very marginal Liberal

Best Liberal booths, two-party vote: Sassafras (80.1), Irishtown (72.5), Forest (71.5), Melrose (70.3), Moriarty (68.9)
Best Labor booths, two-party vote: Waratah (64.5), Rosebery (63.6), Acton (60.7), Montello (60.7), Havenview (60.4)


  • 2019 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Candidates in ballot-paper order:

    1. Ludo Mineur
    Pauline Hanson's One Nation
    2. Dr Darren Briggs
    Australian Greens
    3. Gavin Pearce
    Liberal Party
    4. Scott Rankin
    Local Party
    5. Chris Lynch
    Australian Labor Party
    6. Darren Bobbermien
    United Australia Party
    7. Craig Garland
    Independent
    8. Keone Martin
    Animal Justice Party
    9. Sophie Lehmann
    Jacqui Lambie Network
    10. Duncan White
    Liberal Democrats

    Candidate websites:

    Darren Bobbermien
    Dr Darren Briggs
    Craig Garland
    Sophie Lehmann
    Chris Lynch
    Keone Martin
    Ludo Mineur
    Gavin Pearce
    Scott Rankin
    Duncan White

    Division of Braddon

    Braddon was created in 1955 when the old seat of Darwin, which had occupied the same area of north-western Tasmania since 1903, was renamed. The seat has at different times been strongly Labor and strongly anti-Labor, reflecting an electorate which is largely working-class but also parochial and conservative. Consistent with this, Braddon has the 4th lowest median income level of any seat, and the 3rd lowest level of non English speaking households. At the same time it has lower-than-average levels of families with dependent children and of dwellings being purchased: this is a seat of low-income home-owners, not homebuyers.

    Labor's strongest area is in Burnie - even in 2013 Labor won five of Burnie's eight booths. The Liberals dominate the rural areas, while the two parties usually break roughly even in Devonport, Ulverstone and Wynyard. The old mining towns of the west coast, once called "the Gibraltar of Labor," are now politically marginal. In 1943 this seat elected Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman in the House of Representatives.

    Sid Sidebottom won Braddon for Labor in 1998. He seemed well-entrenched, but in 2004 he became a victim of Mark Latham's anti-logging forestry policy, and was defeated by Mark Baker. In 2007 Sidebottom regained the seat, and was a Parliamentary Secretary in the Rudd-Gillard government. But in 2013 he fell to the large swing against Labor that swept Tasmania in 2013, and was defeated by Brett Whiteley, a Burnie City Councillor and state MP. Despite Labor's poor standing in state politics in 2016, there was a swing back to Labor at the 2016 election, and Whiteley was unexpectedly defeated by Labor's Justine Keay, a Labor staffer and Devonport City Councillor.

    In early 2018, following the High Court's ruling in the citizenship case of Senator Katy Gallagher, Keay resigned and was re-elected at the subdsequent by-election with her majority unchanged. At the 2019 election, however, she was defeated as part of the swing against Labor in Tasmania, and in seats like Braddon nationwide.

    Gavin Pearce, Liberal MP for Braddon since 2019, served in the army for 20 years before becoming a beef farmer and small business operator. His family has farmed in the area since the 1850s. These are good credentials in a conservative regional seat, but this will never be a safe seat for either side of politics. The Labor candidate is Chris Lynch, a Burnie City councillor. The Greens candidate is Dr Darren Briggs, an emergency department doctor.

    Demographics:

    Median weekly household income: $982 (Australia $1,438)
    People over 65: 20.6% (Australia 15.8%)
    Australian born: 84.1% (Australia 66.7%)
    Indigenous: 7.5% (Australia 2.8%)
    Non-English-speaking households: 3.7% (Australia 22.2%)
    Catholics 15.3% (Australia 22.6%)
    No religion 36.1% (Australia 29.6%)
    University graduates: 9.5% (Australia 22.0%)
    Professional and managerial employment: 25.6% (Australia 35.2%)
    Employed in manufacturing and construction: 26.1% (Australia 22.9%)
    Employed in agriculture: 11.1% (Australia 3.3%)
    Paying a mortgage: 31.4% (Australia 34.5%)
    Renting: 28.5% (Australia 30.9%)
    Traditional families: 24.7% (Australia 32.8%)



    Gallery of Members for Braddon



    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



    See full-size map of this Division



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