Division of Gippsland

Gippsland Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Gippsland (green) in Victoria
Created:	1900
MP:	Darren Chester
Party:	National
Namesake:	Gippsland
Area:	33,264 km² (12,843 sq mi)
Demographic:	Rural

The Division of Gippsland is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the Gippsland region of eastern Victoria, which in turn is named for Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales 1838-46. It includes the towns of Bairnsdale, Morwell, Sale and Traralgon. In 104 years Gippsland has never elected a Labor member. It has been held by the Country Party and its successor the National Party since 1922: it is the only seat the party has held continuously since its creation. On its new boundaries, however, it takes in most of the industrial Latrobe Valley.

Sitting MP Peter McGauran announced his resignation in April 2008, sparking a June 2008 by-election, with the three major parties all contesting the election. The Nationals retained the seat on an increased margin, electing Darren Chester.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Allan McLean	Protectionist	1901–1904
		Anti-Socialist	1904–1906
	George Wise	Protectionist	1906–1909
		Independent	1909–1913
	James Bennett	Commonwealth Liberal	1913–1914
	George Wise	Independent	1914–1916
		Nationalist	1916–1922
	Thomas Paterson	Country	1922–1943
	George Bowden	Country	1943–1961
	Peter Nixon	Country	1961–1975
		National Country	1975–1982
		National	1982–1983
	Peter McGauran	National	1983–2008
	Darren Chester	National	2008–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Gippsland

Australian federal election, 2010: Gippsland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Darren Chester	47,020	53.00	+4.63
	Labor	Darren McCubbin	28,008	31.57	-4.98
	Greens	Michael Bond	5,826	6.57	+1.03
	Liberal Democrats	Ben Buckley	4,895	5.52	+5.52
	Family First	Heath Jefferis	2,963	3.34	-0.97
Total formal votes			88,712	96.21	-0.81
Informal votes			3,496	3.79	+0.81
Total votes			92,208	94.53%	-1.14
Two-candidate preferred result
	National	Darren Chester	54,513	61.45	+5.54
	Labor	Darren McCubbin	34,199	38.55	-5.54
	National hold		Swing	+5.54

References

• Division of Gippsland, Australian Electoral Commission