Agricultural Region

The Agricultural Region is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the South West, Peel and part of the Great Southern regions of the state. It was created by the Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987, and became effective on 22 May 1989 with five members who had been elected at the 1989 state election three months earlier. At the 2008 election, it was increased to six members.

Agricultural Region Western Australia—Legislative Council
Location of Agricultural Region in Western Australia
State	Western Australia
Created	1989
MP	Darren West (Labor) Shelley Payne (Labor) Sandra Carr (Labor) Martin Aldridge (Nationals) Colin de Grussa (Nationals) Steve Martin (Liberal)
Party	Labor (3)   Nationals (2)   Liberal (1)
Electors	103,378 (2021)
Area	288,922 km^2 (111,553.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

Legislation to abolish the region, along with all other Western Australian Electoral Regions was passed in November 2021, with the 2025 state election to use a single state-wide electorate of 37 members.^[1]

Geography

The Region is made up of several complete Legislative Assembly districts, which change at each distribution.

Redistribution	Period	Electoral districts	Electors	% of state electors	Area
29 April 1988^[2]	22 May 1989 – 22 May 1997	Avon, Geraldton, Greenough, Merredin, Moore, Roe, Wagin (7)	80,626	8.89%	267,448 km^2 (103,262 sq mi)
28 November 1994^[3]	22 May 1997 – 22 May 2005	As per 1988	87,137	8.27%	267,448 km^2 (103,262 sq mi)
4 August 2003^[4]	22 May 2005 – 22 May 2009	As per 1988	94,877	7.81%	261,282 km^2 (100,882 sq mi)
29 October 2007^[5]	22 May 2009 – 22 May 2017	Central Wheatbelt, Geraldton, Moore, Wagin (4)	82,479	6.56%	200,091 km^2 (77,256 sq mi)
27 November 2015^[6]	22 May 2017 – 22 May 2021	Central Wheatbelt, Geraldton, Moore, Roe (4)	102,748	6.45%	281,264 km^2 (108,597 sq mi)
27 November 2019^[7]	22 May 2021 – 22 May 2025	As per 2015	103,378	6.02%	288,922 km^2 (111,553 sq mi)

Representation

Distribution of seats

As 5-member seat: Election Seats won 1989–1993           1993–1997           1997–2001           2001–2005           2005–2009           As 6-member seat: Election Seats won 2009–2013             2013–2017             2017–2021             2021–2025

Legend:   Labor   Liberal   National   Greens   One Nation   Shooters, Fishers and Farmers

Members

Since its creation, the electorate has had 25 members, only seven of whom were or are not from either the Liberal or National parties. All five of the members elected in 1989 had previously been members of the Legislative Council—two from the South Province, one from the Central Province, one from the South-East Province, and one from the Upper West Province.

Members for Agricultural Region

Year	Member		Party	Member		Party	Member		Party	Member		Party	Member		Party	Member		Party
1989		Jim Brown	Labor		Margaret McAleer	Liberal		David Wordsworth	Liberal		Eric Charlton	Nationals		John Caldwell	Nationals
1992		Kim Chance	Labor
1993					Murray Nixon	Liberal		Bruce Donaldson	Liberal					Murray Criddle	Nationals
1996
1998											Dexter Davies	Nationals
2001					Dee Margetts	Greens					Frank Hough	One Nation
2004												New Country
2005					Margaret Rowe	Liberal					Anthony Fels	Liberal
2007					Brian Ellis	Liberal
2008												Family First		Wendy Duncan	Nationals
2008		Matt Benson-Lidholm	Labor					Jim Chown	Liberal		Philip Gardiner	Nationals		Mia Davies	Nationals		Max Trenorden	Nationals
2012												Independent						Independent
2013														Martin Aldridge	Nationals
2013		Darren West	Labor								Rick Mazza	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers					Paul Brown	Nationals
2017					Laurie Graham	Labor											Colin de Grussa	Nationals
2021					Shelley Payne	Labor		Sandra Carr	Labor		Steve Martin	Liberal

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Agricultural Region

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2021 Western Australian state election (Legislative Council) § Agricultural.[edit]

2021 Western Australian state election: Agricultural^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Quota			12,357
	Labor	1. Darren West (elected 1) 2. Shelley Payne (elected 3) 3. Sandra Carr (elected 4) 4. Luke Clarkson	39,263	45.39	+21.39
	National	1. Colin de Grussa (elected 2) 2. Martin Aldridge (elected 6) 3. Natasha Colliver 4. Steve Blyth 5. Rob Horstman 6. Ian Hanna	22,999	26.59	−4.72
	Liberal	1. Steve Martin (elected 5) 2. Kathryn Jackson 3. Jim Chown 4. Maria Girak 5. Brett Jackson	10,672	12.34	−6.31
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	1. Stuart Ostle 2. Ronald Lean	3,572	4.13	−1.52
	Greens	1. Peter Leam 2. Vivienne Glance	2,579	2.98	−0.62
	One Nation	1. Rod Caddies 2. Emma McKinley	1,765	2.04	−9.62
	Christians	1. Trevor Young 2. Les Holten	1,295	1.50	−0.34
	Legalise Cannabis	1. Leo Treasure 2. Keith Clinton	1,150	1.33	+1.33
	No Mandatory Vaccination	1. Aaron Horsman 2. Jessica Young	685	0.79	+0.79
	Western Australia	1. Michael O'Loghlen 2. Allan Butson	462	0.53	+0.24
	Animal Justice	1. Courtney Henry 2. Roberta Vlaar	339	0.39	+0.39
	Liberal Democrats	1. Connor Whittle 2. Cameron Puttick	339	0.39	−0.70
	Liberals for Climate	1. Peter Turner 2. Nathan Thomson	205	0.24	−0.12
	Health Australia	1. Bass Tadros 2. Svetlana Ivanchenko	201	0.23	+0.23
	WAxit	1. Russell Sewell 2. Simon Glossop	186	0.22	+0.11
	Great Australian	1. Lawrie Carr 2. Shane Edwards	185	0.21	+0.21
	Sustainable Australia	1. Greg Norris 2. James Fowler	153	0.18	+0.18
	Independent	Parminder Singh	134	0.15	+0.15
	Daylight Saving	1. Brett Tucker 2. Andrew Wilson	69	0.08	−0.14
	Independent	1. J. M. David	66	0.08	+0.08
	Independent	1. Felly Chandra 2. Chelsea Henderson	62	0.07	+0.07
	Independent	Andrew Ballantyne	36	0.04	+0.04
	Independent	Les Mirco	27	0.03	+0.03
	Independent	Peter Wallis	25	0.03	+0.03
	Independent	Steven Hopkins	24	0.03	+0.03
Total formal votes			86,493	97.77	+0.68
Informal votes			1,969	2.23	−0.68
Turnout			88,462	85.57	−1.63

References

1. "'Devastating for regional communities': WA government uses majority to overhaul state's electoral laws". ABC News. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
2. "Electoral Districts Act 1947–1985 – Order in Council". Western Australia Government Gazette. 29 April 1988. p. 1988:1339–1527.
3. "Electoral Distributions Act 1947 – Division of the State into Six Electoral Regions and 57 Electoral Districts by the Electoral Distribution Commissioners". Western Australia Government Gazette. 28 November 1994. p. 1994:6135–6327.
4. "Electoral Distributions Act 1947 – Division of the State into Electoral Regions and Districts by the Electoral Distribution Commissioners". Western Australia Government Gazette. 4 August 2003. p. 2003:3475–3566.
5. Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) (29 October 2007). "South West Region Profile". Retrieved 22 October 2008.^{[permanent dead link]}
6. Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) (27 November 2015). . Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
7. Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) (27 November 2019). "Agricultural Region". Retrieved 9 March 2021.
8. "2021 State General Election Results: Agricultural Region". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 April 2021.