Division of Canberra

The Division of Canberra is an Australian electoral division in the Australian Capital Territory. It is named for the city of Canberra, Australia's national capital, and includes all of central Canberra, Kowen, Majura, as well as part of Weston Creek, Woden Valley, Molonglo Valley, Belconnen, and Jerrabomberra. It is currently held by Alicia Payne of the Labor Party.

Canberra Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, as of the 2019 federal election
Created	1974
MP	Alicia Payne
Party	Labor
Namesake	Canberra
Electors	102,196 (2022)
Area	312 km^2 (120.5 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Territory electorate(s)	Brindabella Kurrajong

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state or territory, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state or territory's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state or territory are malapportioned.^[1]

As of 2018, the division of Canberra includes Canberra Central, the Woden Valley suburbs of Curtin, Chifley, Garran and Hughes, the Belconnen suburbs of Aranda, Bruce, Cook, Giralang, Hawker, Kaleen, Lawson and Weetangera, the Jerrabomberra suburbs of Beard and Oaks Estate and the districts of Majura and Kowen.^[2]

History

 

The city of Canberra, the division's namesake

The division was created in a redistribution of the former Division of Australian Capital Territory, gazetted on 19 April 1974. It originally encompassed the southern suburbs of Canberra, including the districts of Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and Woden Valley. It also generally included the land in the ACT south of the Molonglo River and Lake Burley Griffin, although at one time some suburbs in the inner south of the lake were includes in the now abolished division of Fraser. Later the division included Reid and Campbell and prior to the 2018 redistribution, it included Civic, Acton, Turner south of Haig Park and east of Sullivans Creek, Braddon south of Haig Park, Reid, Campbell and Pialligo.^[3] From 2016, the division included Norfolk Island.

In 2018, the Australian Electoral Commission announced substantial alterations to the boundaries of the electorate, due to the creation of a new seat (the Division of Bean) covering the majority of the Australian Capital Territory, centred on its south, as well as Norfolk Island. The new Division of Canberra only covers Canberra's inner suburbs, Majura and Kowen in the Territory's north-east, the Belconnen suburbs of Aranda, Bruce, Cook, Giralang, Hawker, Kaleen, Lawson and Weetangera, and parts of Woden Valley north of Hindmarsh Drive.^[4]

For most of its history it has been a fairly safe seat for the Australian Labor Party, but it has been won by the Liberal Party three times, most recently at a 1995 by-election. In recent elections, the Australian Greens vote has increased steadily, with the party being only just under 4,000 votes of surpassing the Liberal Party on primary vote to enter the two-party preferred vote. In particular, the Greens came second on primary vote in 12 booths at the 2019 federal election, and won in two booths (Dickson East and Canberra City). However, the Labor Party retains a vote almost double that of the Greens in the electorate.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Kep Enderby (1926–2015)	Labor	18 May 1974 – 13 December 1975	Previously held the Division of Australian Capital Territory. Served as minister under Whitlam. Lost seat
		John Haslem (1939–)	Liberal	13 December 1975 – 18 October 1980	Lost seat
		Ros Kelly (1948–)	Labor	18 October 1980 – 30 January 1995	Previously held the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly seat of Canberra. Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Resigned to retire from politics
		Brendan Smyth (1959–)	Liberal	25 March 1995 – 2 March 1996	Did not contest in 1996. Failed to win the Division of Namadgi. Later elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly seat of Brindabella in 1998
		Bob McMullan (1947–)	Labor	2 March 1996 – 3 October 1998	Previously a member of the Senate. Transferred to the Division of Fraser
		Annette Ellis (1946–)	Labor	3 October 1998 – 19 July 2010	Previously held the Division of Namadgi. Retired
		Gai Brodtmann (1963–)	Labor	21 August 2010 – 11 April 2019	Retired
		Alicia Payne (1982–)	Labor	18 May 2019 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Canberra

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in territories § Canberra.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election: Canberra^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Alicia Payne	41,435	44.88	+4.38
	Greens	Tim Hollo	22,795	24.69	+1.38
	Liberal	Slade Minson	20,102	21.77	−6.08
	Independent	Tim Bohm	4,772	5.17	+0.47
	United Australia	Catherine Smith	1,687	1.83	+0.25
	One Nation	James Miles	1,531	1.66	+1.66
Total formal votes			92,322	98.23	+0.39
Informal votes			1,668	1.77	−0.39
Turnout			93,990	92.08	−0.54
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Alicia Payne	66,898	72.46	+5.38
	Liberal	Slade Minson	25,424	27.54	−5.38
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Alicia Payne	57,421	62.20	−4.89
	Greens	Tim Hollo	34,901	37.80	+37.80
	Labor hold

Primary vote results in Canberra (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)

  Labor

  Liberal

  Greens

  Democrats/Australia

  Nuclear Disarmament Party

  One Nation

  Independent

Two-candidate-preferred results in Canberra

References

1. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
2. "Map of Division of Canberra 2018" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
3. (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. January 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
4. Whyte, Sally (6 April 2018). "ACT's new federal electorates revealed". The Sydney Morning Herald.
5. Canberra, ACT, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

• Division of Canberra - Australian Electoral Commission

35°17′49″S 149°08′14″E / 35.2970°S 149.1372°E / -35.2970; 149.1372