Electoral district of Fremantle

This article is about the Western Australian state electorate. For the Australian federal electorate, see Division of Fremantle.

Fremantle Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
State or territory:	Western Australia
Dates current:	1890–present
MP:	Adele Carles
Party:	Independent
Namesake:	Fremantle
Area:	42 km² (16 sq mi)
Demographic:	South Metropolitan

Fremantle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.

The district is located in the inner south-west of Perth, centring on the port of Fremantle.

Fremantle had been a safe Labor seat, having been continually held by the party from 1924 until their defeat by Greens WA candidate Adele Carles at the Fremantle state by-election, 2009.

Geography

Fremantle is a north–south elongated electorate. It is bounded to the north by the Swan River and to the west by the Indian Ocean. A series of roads make up the district's short southern and long eastern boundary. The district takes in the suburbs of Beaconsfield, East Fremantle, Fremantle, North Coogee, South Fremantle and White Gum Valley, as well as parts of the suburbs of Bicton, Hamilton Hill, Palmyra and Spearwood. The district also includes Rottnest Island.

History

Created for the 1890 state election. Fremantle was one of the original 30 districts of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. It has remained as an electorate ever since. In its early years, the seat changed hands regularly between different candidates. However, the seat became more favourable to the Labor Party in the early 20th century, and has been a Labor seat at all times since 1924.

Fremantle's longest-serving member was Joseph Sleeman, member for 35 years from 1924 to 1959. David Parker, member for Fremantle from 1980 to 1990, served as Deputy Premier of Western Australia under Premier Peter Dowding from 1988 to 1990. The seat's member until his retirement in 2009 was Jim McGinty, who was the Opposition Leader from 1994 to 1996 and Attorney-General in the Gallop and Carpenter governments from 2001 to 2008. He was replaced in the Fremantle state by-election, 2009 by Greens candidate Adele Carles, who won the seat having outpolled Labor on the primary vote, and gaining sufficient preference flow to fill McGinty's vacancy. In doing so, Carles set a number of firsts for the Greens in Australia.

Members for Fremantle

Member		Party	Term
	William Marmion	Ministerialist	1890–1896
	John Higham	Ministerialist	1896–1904
	Ted Needham	Labor	1904–1905
	James Price	Ministerialist	1905–1910
	William Murphy	Ministerialist	1910–1911
	William Carpenter	Labor	1911–1917
		National Labor	1917
	William Jones	Labor	1917–1921
	Frank Gibson	Nationalist	1921–1924
	Joseph Sleeman	Labor	1924–1959
	Harry Fletcher	Labor	1959–1977
	John Troy	Labor	1977–1980
	David Parker	Labor	1980–1990
	Jim McGinty	Labor	1990–2009
	Adele Carles	Greens WA	2009–2010
		Independent	2010–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Fremantle

Fremantle state by-election, 2009
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Greens WA	Adele Carles	8,722	44.06	+16.50
	Labor	Peter Tagliaferri	7,632	38.55	-0.14
	Independent	Carmelo Zagami	999	5.05	+5.05
	Independent	Nik Varga	701	3.54	+3.54
		Sam Wainwright	454	2.29	+2.29
	Independent	Steve Boni	340	1.72	+1.72
	Christian Democrats	Julie Hollett	339	1.71	-0.15
	Family First	Andriette du Plessis	194	0.98	-0.71
	Independent	Jan Ter Horst	188	0.95	+0.95
	Independent	Rosemary Anne Lorrimar	171	0.86	+0.86
	CEC	Rob Totten	56	0.28	+0.28
Total formal votes			19,796	95.71	+1.38
Informal votes			888	4.29	–1.38
Turnout			20,684	87.20	+2.81
Two-candidate preferred result
	Greens WA	Adele Carles	10,664	53.96	+53.96
	Labor	Peter Tagliaferri	9,100	46.04	-15.97
	Greens WA gain from Labor		Swing	+53.96

Western Australian state election, 2008: Fremantle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Jim McGinty	7,286	38.7	-5.1
	Liberal	Brian Christie	5,689	30.2	+3.4
	Greens WA	Adele Carles	5,191	27.6	+10.5
	Christian Democrats	Julie Hollett	350	1.9	+0.2
	Family First	Andriétte Du Plessis	318	1.7	-0.1
Total formal votes			18,834	94.3	+1.9
Informal votes			1,132	5.7	-1.9
Turnout			19,966	84.4
Two-candidate preferred result
	Labor	Jim McGinty	11,667	62.0	-2.1
	Liberal	Brian Christie	7,147	38.0	+2.1
	Labor hold		Swing	-2.1

External links

• ABC Election Profiles: 2005 2008
• WAEC District Maps: 1996–2005 2005–2008 2008–