Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Goldstein, Victoria

Named for: Vida Goldstein (1869-1949), feminist and anti-war activist and parliamentary candidate


< Gippsland previous seat | next seat Gorton >
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Inner Melbourne: Beaumaris, Bentleigh, Brighton, Gardenvale, Sandringham

Enrolment at 2019 election: 108,555
Enrolment at 2022 election: 109,633 (+01.1)

1999 republic referendum: Yes 58.0
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 76.3
2023 Voice referendum: Yes 56.2

Sitting member: Zoe Daniel (Independent): Elected 2022


2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 6.0%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 6.5%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 11.0%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 12.7%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 7.8%
2022 Independent majority over Liberal 2.9%
2025 notional Independent majority over Liberal 2.9%

Status 2022: Very marginal independent
Liberal two-party vote 1984-2022


  • 2022 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Announced candidates:

    Zoe Daniel
    Independent
    Hon Tim Wilson
    Liberal Party

    Division of Goldstein

    Goldstein* was created in 1984, but is in fact the old federation seat of Balaclava renamed (because it no longer contains the suburb of Balaclava). It has always been located in the affluent bayside suburbs of Melbourne, based on the Liberal strongholds of Brighton and Sandringham. Successive redistributions have extended it into somewhat more marginal territory to the east of the Nepean Highway, but it remains one of most affluent seats in Australia, with a high level of median family income and a high proportion of people in professional and managerial occupations.

    Until 2022, Balaclava/Goldstein was the only seat in Australia which had been won by the major non-Labor party of the day (Protectionist, Liberal, Nationalist, United Australia, Liberal) at every election since Federation. Seven of its ten members have been ministers, from the first federal Treasurer, Sir George Turner, to Liberal Cabinet ministers Ian Macphee, Dr David Kemp and Andrew Robb - the last a minister in the Howard Government and a member of the Abbott and Turnbull cabinets. Robb retired in 2016.

    Tim Wilson, who won Goldstein in 2016, was policy director of the Liberal think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs and later Australian Human Rights Commissioner. In 2021 he became Assistant Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. In 2022 he became the first member for Balaclava/Goldstein to be defeated.

    Zoe Daniel, independent MP for Goldstein since 2022, had a long career as an ABC journalist, mainly as a foreign correspondent. Wilson will again be her opponent in 2025.

    * Which is pronounced Goldstine, not Goldsteen.

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