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 |  |  Adam Carr's Election Archive
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 Australian federal election, 2025Division of Bean, Australian Capital Territory
 
 Named for: Charles Bean (1879-1968), war correspondent and historian
 
 Southern Canberra: Kambah, Molonglo Valley, Tuggeranong, Weston Creek, Woden Valley
 Enrolment at 2019 election: 104,482
 Enrolment at 2022 election: 109,432 (+04.9)
 2023 Voice referendum: Yes 56.3
 
|  | Sitting member: David Smith (Labor): Elected 2019, 2022 |  
 2019 Labor majority over Liberal: 7.5%2022 results 
Statistics and history2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 13.0%
 
 Status: Fairly safe Labor
Labor two-party vote 2019-2022
 
   
 Candidates:
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| Sam CarterAust Greens
 | David LamertonLiberal Party
 | David SmithAust Labor Party
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 Candidates in ballot-paper order:
Back to main page1. David Lamerton (Liberal Party)2. Jessie Price
 3. Sam Carter (Australian Greens)
 4. David Smith * (Australian Labor Party)
 
 Division of Bean
Bean was created at the 2018 redistribution when the Australian Capital Territory became eligible for a third seat as a result 
of Canberra's rapid growth. It covers the southern half of the old seat of Canberra, inluding the 
city's southern suburbs and the thinly-populated rural south of the territory, which is mostly national park. It is 
roughly analogous to the seat of Namadgi, which existed from 1996 to 1998, the last time the ACT qualified (briefly) for 
three seats.
 Like the rest of Canberra, Bean has a high proportion of government employees, a high level of income and a high 
level of education. However, it is less affluent and less public-service oriented than the other two ACT seats, Canberra and Fenner, and 
has a fairly high level of traditional families paying mortgages. It is therefore more politically marginal than Canberra and Fenner, 
though still basically a Labor seat. The Liberals have not won a federal seat in the ACT since the Canberra by-election of 
1995.
 
 Gai Brodtmann, Labor MP for Canberra, announced that she would be transferring to Bean at the 2019 election. 
But in August 2018 she announced that instead she would be retiring for personal reasons. Labor then endorsed Senator 
David Smith, who had inherited 
Katy Gallagher's Senate seat when she was knocked out by the High Court over section 44.
 
 David Smith, Labor MP for Bean since 2019, was born and educated in Canberra, and was a public servant and advisor before 
entering politics. Most recently he was director of the ACT branch of Professionals Australia. At the 2016 election he was chosen 
for the unwinnable second position on the Labor Senate ticket in the ACT. He was declared elected in May 2018 when Senator 
Gallagher was found to be ineligible. He resigned from the Senate in April 2019 and was elected for Bean. Although the seat in 
marginal, he is unlikely to be seriously threatened. The Liberal candidate is David Lamerton, an Army vteran and public servant.
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