Division of Franklin

This article is about the federal electorate. For the state electorate, see Division of Franklin (state).

Franklin Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Franklin (green) in Tasmania
Created:	1903
MP:	Julie Collins
Party:	Labor
Namesake:	John Franklin
Area:	6,514 km² (2,515 sq mi)
Demographic:	Outer Metropolitan

The Division of Franklin is an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir John Franklin, the polar explorer who was Lt Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1843-46. It is located in southern Tasmania, including the Hobart suburbs of Bridgewater, Cygnet, Kingston and Lauderdale. It has always been a reasonably marginal seat, changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party and its predecessors.

Although after 14 years of representation by former Labor and independent member Harry Quick the seat of Franklin was considered safe Labor, Franklin was one of very few electorates to record a swing to Labor at the 2010 election. Franklin also has a strong history of voting for strong candidates rather than for a particular party.

In 2005, sitting Labor member Harry Quick announced that he would retire at the 2007 election. When Labor preselected union official Kevin Harkins as a replacement, Quick, seeing him as unsuitable, appeared to endorse the Liberal candidate, Vanessa Goodwin, which was partly responsible for his expulsion from the Labor party. Harkins was eventually dropped as a candidate, and the Labor Party state secretary Julie Collins was installed as the ALP candidate.

Julie Collins won the seat of Franklin at the 2007 election despite the Labor suffering a 3.11% swing against on two party preferred results and 5.03% swing against in general results. Liberal Party candidate Vanessa Goodwin recorded a swing towards the party while the Australian Greens a swing towards the party similar to that of the Liberals.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	William McWilliams	Revenue Tariff	1903–1906
		Anti-Socialist	1906–1909
		Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1917
		Nationalist	1917–1920
		Country	1920–1922
	Alfred Seabrook	Nationalist	1922–1928
	William McWilliams	Independent	1928–1929
	Charles Frost	Labor	1929–1931
	Archibald Blacklow	United Australia	1931–1934
	Charles Frost	Labor	1934–1946
	Bill Falkinder	Liberal	1946–1966
	Thomas Pearsall	Liberal	1966–1969
	Ray Sherry	Labor	1969–1975
	Bruce Goodluck	Liberal	1975–1993
	Harry Quick	Labor	1993–2007
		Independent	2007–2007
	Julie Collins	Labor	2007–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Franklin

Australian federal election, 2010: Franklin
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Julie Collins	28,079	42.85	+2.17
	Liberal	Jane Howlett	21,938	33.48	-7.82
	Greens	Wendy Heatley	13,675	20.87	+6.15
	Independent	John Forster	1,839	2.81	+2.81
Total formal votes			65,531	96.52	-0.83
Informal votes			2,365	3.48	+0.83
Turnout			67,896	95.51	-0.35
Two-candidate preferred result
	Labor	Julie Collins	39,856	60.82	+6.79
	Liberal	Jane Howlett	25,675	39.18	-6.79
	Labor hold		Swing	+6.79

References

• Division of Franklin, Australian Electoral Commission