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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Lyons, Tasmania
Named for: Rt Hon Joseph Lyons (1879-1939), Tas MP 1909-29, Premier 1923-28, federal MP 1929-39, Prime Minister 1932-39: and his
wife, Hon Dame Enid Lyons (1897-1981), federal MP 1943-51 (first woman MP and first woman minister)
Central Tasmania: Brighton, Longford, New Norfolk, Sorrell, St Helens
Enrolment at 2019 election: 79,657
Enrolment at 2022 election: 85,166 (+07.0)
1999 republic referendum: No 66.5
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 58.7
2023 Voice referendum: No 67.4
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Sitting member: Brian Mitchell (Labor): Elected 2016, 2019, 2022. Retiring 2025
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2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 8.8%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 12.3%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 1.2%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 2.3%
2019 Labor majority over Liberal: 5.2%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 0.9%
Status: Very marginal Labor
Labor two-party vote 1983-2022
2022 results
Statistics and history
Announced candidates:
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Susie Bower
Liberal Party |
Bec White
Australian Labor Party |
Division of Lyons
Lyons was created in 1984, when the old electorate of
Wilmot, which had existed since 1903, was renamed. At various times this electorate has occupied most parts of Tasmania: since 1984 it has extended from the northern suburbs of
Hobart north to Port Sorrell and east to the coastal towns of St Helens and St Marys. It has among Australia's
lowest levels of median income, and lowest proportions of graduates and people in professional and managerial positions.
It also has the lowest level of non English speaking households of any seat: it is probably the most monocultural
electorate in Australia.
Lyons is thus largely working-class but also parochial and conservative. The future of the timber industry has been
an important issue in this seat. Labor's strength lies in the semi-suburban areas north and west of Hobart, such as
Bridgewater and New Norfolk, as well as in the timber and mining towns. The Liberals dominate the farming areas of
the north. The 2018 redistribution removed the Liberal-inclined Tamar Valley, improving Labor's position.
The old seat of Wilmot was held by Prime Minister
Joe Lyons from 1928 to 1939: it was renamed after him and his
wife,
Dame Enid, in 1984.
Dick Adams, a former state minister, won Lyons for Labor in 1993. Adams had a large personal vote, which is why Labor retained this seat in the face of the adverse swing in 2004 caused by
Mark Latham's anti-logging forestry policy.
The defeat of Adams in 2013 after 20 years - largely due to the unpopularity of the Labor-Greens coalition state
government - was the biggest upset of the 2013 election. But
Eric Hutchinson, the Liberal who defeated Adams, was
unable to entrench himself, and in 2016 he was defeated by Brian Mitchell.
Brian Mitchell, Labor MP for Lyons since 2016, was born in the UK and educated in WA. He worked as a journalist and editor, and as a staffer to long-serving Labor MP
Duncan Kerr. More recently he has run a media consultancy company. He
got a swing towards him in 2019, but then suffered a sharp swing against him in 2022. The Labor Party is in poor shape in Tasmania, having
lost four successive state elections, and Lyons will be a key Liberal target seat at the 2025 election.
In November 2024 Labor announced that the former Tasmanian Opposition Leader
Bec White would be Labor's candidate.
Although White has led Labor to three election defeats in Tasmania, she is said to be popular in the
Lyons electorate, which she has represented at state level since 2010. The Liberal candidate will be
Susie Bower, former Director of Community and Economic Development at Dorset Council.
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