Division of Holt

The Division of Holt is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is located in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including Blind Bight, Botanic Ridge, Cannons Creek, Clyde, Cranbourne, Devon Meadows, Hampton Park, Junction Village, Lynbrook, and Warneet; and parts of Clyde North, Lyndhurst, Narre Warren South, Pearcedale and Tooradin.

Holt Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Holt in Victoria, as of the 2022 federal election
Created	1969
MP	Cassandra Fernando
Party	Labor
Namesake	Harold Holt
Electors	107,465 (2022)
Area	258 km2 (99.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer metropolitan and semi-rural
Electorates around Holt: Isaacs Bruce La Trobe Dunkley Holt La Trobe Flinders Western Port Western Port

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History

Harold Holt, the division's namesake

The division was created in the 1969 redistribution, and is named after Harold Holt. Holt was a long-serving minister under successive governments led by Robert Menzies. Holt became Prime Minister upon Menzies' retirement in January 1966, although Holt would only serve less than two years before disappearing off Cheviot Beach.

Historically a marginal seat, over time the seat became safer for the Australian Labor Party. However, after the 2004 election it was again highly marginal due to voter backlash over the announcement that the proposed Scoresby Freeway would be a tollway rather than a freeway. The seat returned to its safe status following the 2007 election.

Its most prominent members include Michael Duffy and Gareth Evans. Both served as ministers under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, though Evans was a Senator during that period. Evans also served as deputy under Kim Beazley from 1996 to 1998.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Len Reid (1916–2003)	Liberal	25 October 1969 – 2 December 1972	Previously held the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Dandenong. Lost seat
		Max Oldmeadow (1924–2013)	Labor	2 December 1972 – 13 December 1975	Lost seat
		William Yates (1921–2010)	Liberal	13 December 1975 – 18 October 1980	Previously held the British House of Commons seat of The Wrekin. Lost seat
		Michael Duffy (1938–)	Labor	18 October 1980 – 21 January 1996	Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Retired
		Gareth Evans (1944–)		2 March 1996 – 30 September 1999	Previously a member of the Senate. Resigned to retire from politics
		Anthony Byrne (1962–)		6 November 1999 – 11 April 2022	Retired
		Cassandra Fernando (1987–)		21 May 2022 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Holt

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in Victoria § Holt.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election: Holt

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Cassandra Fernando	36,326	40.86	−9.68
	Liberal	Ranj Perera	26,274	29.56	−6.21
	United Australia	Gerardine Hansen	8,592	9.67	+3.52
	Greens	Sujit Mathew	7,583	8.53	+1.37
	One Nation	Sandy Ambard	4,295	4.83	+4.70
	Independent	Ravi Ragupathy	2,673	3.01	+3.01
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Nunez-Silva	2,423	2.73	+2.73
	Federation	Gregory Saldana	730	0.82	+0.82
Total formal votes			88,896	93.45	−2.38
Informal votes			6,227	6.55	+2.38
Turnout			95,123	88.57	−0.94
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Cassandra Fernando	50,777	57.12	−1.51
	Liberal	Ranj Perera	38,119	42.88	+1.51
	Labor hold		Swing	−1.51

External links

• Division of Holt – Australian Electoral Commission