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Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Chisholm, Victoria
Named for: Caroline Chisholm (1808-77), social worker and promoter of
women's immigration
South-eastern Melbourne: Burwood, East Malvern, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Wheelers Hill
Enrolment at 2019 election: 106,323
Enrolment at 2022 election: 109,851 (+03.2)
1999 republic referendum: Yes 57.3
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 61.6
2023 Voice referendum: Yes 50.4
2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 7.4%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 6.1%
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 1.6%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 1.2%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 0.6%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 6.3%
2025 notional Labor majority over Liberal: 3.2%
Status 2022: Marginal Labor
Labor two-party vote 1983-2022
2022 results
Statistics and history
Division of Chisholm
Chisholm was created in 1949, and at that time was centred on Camberwell and was a safe Liberal seat. Successive
redistributions have pushed it east and south, and now it contains almost none of its original territory. Chisholm has a high
median income level, a high proprtion of graduates and a high proportion of people in professional and managerial
occupations. What sets it apart from other Melbourne upper-income seats is the high level of people born in non
English speaking countries, particularly in China, although the proportion has been reduced by the 2024 redistribution.
Chisholm's first two members,
Sir Wilfrid Kent Hughes and
Tony Staley, were both ministers, in the Menzies and Fraser
governments respectively. Labor won the seat for the first time in 1983, but in 1987
Dr Michael Wooldridge won it back for
the Liberals. Wooldridge was Health Minister in the Howard Government, but by 1998 Chisholm was seen as increasingly unsafe
by the Liberals, and Wooldridge moved to outer suburban
Casey. The seat then passed to Labor's
Anna Burke, who was
Speaker 2012-13 and retired in 2016. The loss of her personal vote, on top of Labor's weak performance in
Victoria, allowed the Liberals to regain the seat - their only gain at the 2016 election.
Julia Banks, who won the seat in 2016, strongly supported Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull. After his forced resignation she
announced that she would not stand again in 2022, blaming the "bullying and intimidation" of the
Dutton camp.
The 2018 redistribution improved Chisholm for the Liberals by removing Clayton and Oakleigh and adding
the Liberal stronghold of Glen Waverley. The 2021 redistribution again moved the seat to the south-east, taking in Mount
Waverley, Mulgrave and Wheelers Hill. The 2024 redistribution has added a block of Liberal-voting territory around East Malvern and
Glen Iris, formerly in Higgins, reducing the Labor majority.
At the 2019 election, Gladys Liu, who was born in Hong Kong, became the first woman of Chinese
ethnicity elected to the Australian Parliament. She defeated Labor candidate Jennifer Yang, in the first
contest between two Chinese-Australian candidates. But in 2022 she was defeated when the Chinese-Australian vote swung strongly against the Morrison
government.
Dr Carina Garland, Labor MP for Chisholm since 2022, has a PhD in English literature. She was a staffer for Simon Crean, Assistant Secretary for the Victorian Trades Hall Council and National Political Coordinator of
the United Workers Union before her election. The 2024 redistribution has not helped her chances of re-election in 2025. Her Liberal opponent will be
Dr Katie Allen, who was MP for Higgins 2019-22.
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