Division of Wills
| Wills Australian House of Representatives Division |
|
|---|---|
 Division of Wills (green) in Victoria |
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| Created: | 1949 |
| MP: | Kelvin Thomson |
| Party: | Labor |
| Namesake: | William Wills |
| Area: | 57 km² (22 sq mi) |
| Demographic: | Inner Metropolitan |
The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently held by the Australian Labor Party's Kelvin Thomson.
The electorate encompasses many of the suburbs in the City of Moreland in Melbourne's north, including Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner, Glenroy, and Essendon Airport. It was named after William John Wills of Burke and Wills fame.
Wills has historically been one of the safest Labor seats in the country. Currently, it is Labor's second-safest seat (behind neighboring Gellibrand), with a 22 per cent swing required for the Liberals to win it. It has been in Labor hands for its entire existence except between the 1992 by-election and 1996, when it was held by independent Phil Cleary. Its highest-profile member was former Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
The 1992 by-election is remarkable for a number of reasons: It was caused by Bob Hawke's retirement from parliament; it had a record twenty-two candidates standing; it was won by an independent; the results were thrown out as the winner, Phil Cleary, was on unpaid leave from the state education system (the Australian Constitution forbids people employed by the Crown from standing for election). No replacement by-election was held as the court decision which threw out the results was made shortly before a general election was due.
[edit] Members
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Bryson | Labor | 1949–1955 | |
| Labor (Anti-Communist) | 1955–1955 | ||
| Gordon Bryant | Labor | 1955–1980 | |
| Bob Hawke | Labor | 1980–1992 | |
| Phil Cleary | Independent | 1992–1996 | |
| Kelvin Thomson | Labor | 1996–present | |
[edit] Election results
| Australian federal election, 2010: Wills | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labor | Kelvin Thomson | 43,718 | 51.81 | -5.08 | |
| Liberal | Claude Tomisich | 20,080 | 23.79 | -0.76 | |
| Greens | Mark Riley | 17,381 | 20.60 | +6.78 | |
| Family First | Daniel Mumby | 1,320 | 1.56 | +0.13 | |
| Democrats | Paul Roberton | 734 | 0.87 | -1.46 | |
| Socialist Alliance | Trent Hawkins | 726 | 0.86 | +0.14 | |
| CEC | Craig Isherwood | 429 | 0.51 | +0.25 | |
| Total formal votes | 84,388 | 93.98 | -1.69 | ||
| Informal votes | 5,403 | 6.02 | +1.69 | ||
| Turnout | 89,791 | 91.07 | -2.60 | ||
| Two-candidate preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Kelvin Thomson | 61,297 | 72.64 | +0.24 | |
| Liberal | Claude Tomisich | 23,091 | 27.36 | -0.24 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | +0.24 | |||
[edit] References
- Division of Wills, Australian Electoral Commission
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