Electoral district of Doncaster

Doncaster Victoria—Legislative Assembly
State or territory:	Victoria
Created:	1976
MP:	Mary Wooldridge
Party:	Liberal Party of Australia
Electors:	36,523 (2010)
Area:	25 km² (10 sq mi)
Demographic:	Metropolitan

The Electoral district of Doncaster is a metropolitan electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, located approximately 13 kilometres north-east of Melbourne. It is part of the Upper House Eastern Metropolitan Region and sits entirely within the City of Manningham.

Profile

Doncaster covers 25 square kilometres and comprises the majority of the suburbs of Doncaster, Doncaster East and Donvale, excluding portions of the northern parts of these suburbs, which all lie within the City of Manningham in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. A residential suburban electorate, Doncaster is a moderately hilly area north of the Koonung Creek and west of the Mullum Mullum Creek. It's urban features include predominantly low-density suburban dwellings, gardens and reserves, shopping centres and an abundance of sports amenities.

Roughly 45,000-50,000 people live in the electorate, the entire population relies on private automobiles and busses for transportation, having no access to trams or trains. The area was once renowned for its orchards, growing mostly apples. Some tall stands of pine trees that formed windbreaks around the orchards are still visible in and around Doncaster and in the Pine Ridge area of Donvale.

The seat has been represented by three Liberal MPs: Morris Williams, Victor Perton and Mary Wooldridge.

History

Prior to 1976, the area of Doncaster/Templestowe was included in the seats of South Bourke, Evelyn, Mernda and Box Hill. In 1976, rapidly increasing population led to the split-up of the seat of Box Hill into Doncaster and Box Hill.

Liberal parliamentarian Morris Williams was the first MP for the seat of Doncaster (from March 1976 to August 1988).

Victor Perton held the seat from 1988 through until he retired at the election in November 2006.

At the November 2006 election, Mary Wooldridge beat Labor's Lidia Argondizzo, Green Chris Gymer and Independent Irene Goonan.

Members for Doncaster

Member		Party	Term
	Morris Williams	Liberal	1976–1988
	Victor Perton	Liberal	1988–2006
	Mary Wooldridge	Liberal	2006–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Doncaster

Victorian state election, 2010: Doncaster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mary Wooldridge	20,417	62.73	+12.18
	Labor	Charles Pick	8,500	26.12	-6.55
	Greens	Nick Carson	2,616	8.04	+0.64
	Family First	Ken Smithies	1,015	3.12	-1.16
Total formal votes			32,548	95.28	-0.73
Informal votes			1,614	4.72	+0.73
Turnout			34,162	93.54	+0.00
Two-candidate preferred result
	Liberal	Mary Wooldridge	22,020	67.61	+9.49
	Labor	Charles Pick	10,549	32.39	-9.49
	Liberal hold		Swing	+9.49

External links

• Doncaster district - Victorian Electoral Commission