Division of Batman

Batman Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Batman (green) in Victoria
Created:	1906
MP:	Martin Ferguson
Party:	Labor
Namesake:	John Batman
Area:	53 km² (20 sq mi)
Demographic:	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Batman is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1906 (it was formerly called Northern Melbourne), and is named after John Batman, one of the founders of the city of Melbourne. When it was created it covered the inner suburbs of Carlton and Fitzroy, but successive boundary changes have moved it steadily northwards. Today it includes Northcote, Preston, Reservoir and Thornbury. On these boundaries it was one of the safest seats in Australia for the Australian Labor Party, which has held the seat for all but six years since 1910. However, at the 2010 election the Greens overtook the Liberals on preferences and came second against Labor, reducing the seat to a "fairly safe" Labor seat. Its most notable member has been Brian Howe, who was Deputy Prime Minister in the Hawke and Keating governments.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Jabez Coon	Protectionist	1906–1909
		Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1910
	Henry Beard	Labor	1910–1910
	Frank Brennan	Labor	1911–1931
	Samuel Dennis	United Australia	1931–1934
	Frank Brennan	Labor	1934–1949
	Alan Bird	Labor	1949–1962
	Sam Benson	Labor	1962–1966
		Independent	1966–1969
	Horace Garrick	Labor	1969–1977
	Brian Howe	Labor	1977–1996
	Martin Ferguson	Labor	1996–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Batman

Australian federal election, 2010: Batman
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Martin Ferguson	40,574	52.38	-4.80
	Greens	Alexandra Bhathal	18,189	23.48	+6.31
	Liberal	George Souris	15,412	19.90	-0.74
	Family First	Andrew Conlon	2,465	3.18	+0.56
	Democrats	Con Sarazen	823	1.06	-0.97
Total formal votes			77,463	94.85	-1.33
Informal votes			4,202	5.15	+1.33
Turnout			81,665	91.59	-2.61
Two-candidate preferred result
	Labor	Martin Ferguson	44,819	57.86	-18.09
	Greens	Alexandra Bhathal	32,644	42.14	+42.14
	Labor hold		Swing	-18.09

References

• Division of Batman, Australian Electoral Commission