Adam Carr's Election Archive

---

Australian federal election, 2022
Division of O'Connor, Western Australia

Named for: C Y (Charles) O'Connor (1843-1902), civil engineer who built the water pipeline to the WA goldfields.

< North Sydney previous seat | next seat Oxley >
Return to alphabetical list of seats

Southern Western Australia: Albany, Kalgoorlie, Katanning, Narrogin, Wagin
State seats: All of Albany, Kalgoorlie and Roe, parts of Central Wheatbelt, Collie-Preston, North-West Central and Warren-Blackwood
Local government areas: All of Albany, Beverley, Boddington, Boyup Brook, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Brookton, Bruce Rock, Collie, Coolgardie, Corrigin, Cranbrook, Cunderdin, Denmark, Dundas, Esperance, Gnowangerup, Jerramumgup, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Kellerberrin, Kent, Kondinin, Koorda, Kulin, Lake Grace, Laverton, Leonora, Manjimup, Menzies, Merredin, Mount Marshall, Mukinbudin, Nannup, Narembeen, Ngaanyatjarraku, Nungarin, Plantagenet, Quairading, Ravensthorpe, Tammin, Trayning, Wagin, Wandering, West Arthur, Westonia, Williams, Wiluna and Wyalkatchem
Borders with: Canning, Durack, Forrest, Grey, Hasluck and Lingiari

---

Enrolment at 2019 election: 101,904
Enrolment at 2022 election: 117,954 (+15.8)

---

1999 republic referendum: No 71.9
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 56.2

Sitting member: Rick Wilson (Liberal): Elected 2013, 2016, 2019

---

2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 16.6%
2010 Nationals majority over Liberal: 3.6%
2013 Liberal majority over Nationals: 1.0%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 15.1%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 14.5%
2019 notional Liberal majority over Labor: 15.4%

---

Liberal-Nationals two-party vote 1983-2019

---

Status: Safe Liberal

---

Best Liberal booths, two-party vote: Harrismith (95.3), Duranillin (91.7), Ongerup (90.1), Lake King (89.5), Mukinbudin (89.4)
Best Labor booths, two-party vote: Collie North (61.9), Collie (60.8), Laverton (59.8), Collie PPVC (59.1), Allanson (55.8)

2019 results

Statistics and history

Candidates in ballot-paper order:

1. Stan Kustrin Pauline Hanson's One Nation	2. Shaneane Weldon Australian Labor Party	3. Giz Watson Australian Greens	4. Isaac Middle Australian Federation Party	5. Morris Bessant Western Australian Party

6. Justin Moseley Australian Christians	7. Tracy Tirronen United Australia Party	8. Brenden Barber Great Australian Party	9. Rick Wilson Liberal Party

Candidate websites:

Brenden Barber
Isaac Middle
Justin Moseley
Tracy Tirronen
Giz Watson
Shaneane Weldon
Rick Wilson

---

Division of O'Connor

O'Connor was created in 1980, uniting the western, rural halves of the old seats of Canning and Moore. It then covered the whole of the Wheat Belt of WA, one of the world's great wheat-producing regions. It was the most rural electorate in Australia, with the highest proportion of its workforce engaged in agriculture of any seat. Like all rural seats, it had and still has a relatively low median family income level, but also has a surprisingly high level of people in professional occupations.

The 2010 redistribution, however, again cut the Wheat Belt in half, with the northern half going into the new seat of Durack and the southern half being united with the city of Kalgoorlie and the southern part of outback WA to form O'Connor. Kalgoorlie was once a Labor stronghold, but in recent years the Labor vote has declined sharply. On the current boundaries 17.8% of the workforce is employed in agriculture.

Until 2010, O'Connor had always been an extremely safe seat for its first and only member, the very conservative and eccentric Liberal Wilson Tuckey. During the Liberals' time in opposition from 1983 to 1996 Tuckey was an effective "head-kicker." In government he was forced to resign from the Howard ministry when he foolishly wrote to a (Labor) state minister asking that his son be excused a traffic fine. By 2010, when Tuckey was 75, voters had apparently tired of him, and he was defeated by a Nationals candidate, Tony Crook. Crook didn't like being a federal MP and retired after one term, whereupon the seat returned to the Liberals.

Rick Wilson, Liberal MP for O'Connor since 2013, was a farmer at Katanning before entering politics. Labor is no longer a threat in Kalgoorlie, and the danger from the Nationals has receded - in 2016 they polled only 18.4% - so Wilson now seems fairly secure in this seat.

The 2021 redistribution has shifted a block of rural shires, including Merredin and Mount Marshall, from Durack to O'Connor, making the seat even more agricultural than before. This has mde no difference to its political orientation, although it might favour a Nationals candidate in future. The Labor candidate is Shaneane Weldon, a teacher, Indigenous activist and Deputy President of the Shire of Laverton. The Greens candidate is Giz Watson, former long-serving Greens member of the WA Legislative Council.

Some state seats in this area, notably Kalgoorlie and Warren-Blackwood, produced huge swings to Labor at the 2021 state election. This was entirely due to state issues and should not be taken as an indicator that similar results can be expected in WA at a federal election.

---

Demographics:

Median weekly household income: $1,325 (Australia $1,438)
People over 65: 16.6% (Australia 15.8%)
Indigenous: 5.9% (Australia 2.8%)
Australian born: 72.1% (Australia 66.7%)
Non-English-speaking households: 8.4% (Australia 22.2%)
Catholics 16.2% (Australia 22.6%)
No religion 34.4% (Australia 29.6%)
University graduates: 11.0% (Australia 22.0%)
Professional and managerial employment: 30.1% (Australia 35.2%)
Employed in manufacturing and construction: 17.4% (Australia 22.9%)
Employed in agriculture: 17.8% (Australia 3.3%)
Paying a mortgage: 31.4% (Australia 34.5%)
Renting: 30.7% (Australia 30.9%)
Traditional families: 28.9% (Australia 32.8%)

Gallery of Members for O'Connor

Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



See full-size map of this Division

---

Back to main page