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Cooper was created at the 2018 redistribution, when the former seat of
Batman was renamed.* Batman was created in 1906, when the federation seat of
Northern Melbourne was renamed.
Cooper 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
Sam Benson 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 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. The 2021 redistribution has removed the Greens stronghold of Clifton Hill.
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. At the 2019 election
she was re-elected with a strong swing against the Greens. Given her high profile and her left-wing views, she must be considered a good prospect of
holding Cooper against future Greens challenges. The Liberal candidate is Jadon Atkinson, whose occupation is not stated.
The Greens candidate is Celeste Liddle, an Indigenous union official.
* The renaming followed a campaign to draw attention to John Batman's role in the massacres of Indigenous people in Tasmania in the 1830s.
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%)
Gallery of Members for Cooper
Boundaries following most recent redistribution:
See full-size map of this Division
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%)