Division of Melbourne

This article is about the Australian federal electorate. For the Victorian state electorate, see Electoral district of Melbourne.

Melbourne Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Melbourne in Victoria, as of the 2019 federal election
Created	1901
MP	Adam Bandt
Party	Greens
Namesake	Melbourne
Electors	107,552 (2019)
Area	40 km2 (15.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Melbourne is an Australian electoral division in the State of Victoria, represented since the 2010 election by Adam Bandt, a member of the Greens.

The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The Division of Melbourne encompasses the City of Melbourne and the suburbs of Abbotsford, Ascot Vale, Burnley, Carlton, Carlton North, Collingwood, Cremorne, Docklands, East Melbourne, Fitzroy, Fitzroy North, Flemington, Kensington, North Melbourne, Parkville, Princes Hill, Richmond, Travancore and West Melbourne. The area has heavy and light engineering, extensive manufacturing, commercial and retail activities (including Melbourne markets and central business district), dockyards, clothing and footwear industries, warehousing and distributing of whitegoods, building and other general goods. This capital city electorate's northern boundary is formed by Maribyrnong Road, Ormond Road, Park Street, Sydney Road and Glenlyon Road between the Yarra River, Maribyrnong River and Merri Creek.

History

The city of Melbourne, the division's namesake

Melbourne was held by the Australian Labor Party for the better part of its history. Labor first won the seat at a 1904 by-election, and held it for over a century, with former Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell the highest profile member. For most of the time from 1907 to 2004, it was one of Labor's safest seats. During this time, Labor's hold on the seat was only remotely threatened once, when Calwell saw his majority trimmed to 57.2 percent in 1966. This is still the closest that the conservative parties have come to winning the seat in over a century.

At the 2007 election, Melbourne became a marginal seat for the first time in a century, even as Labor won a decisive victory nationally. Greens candidate Adam Bandt taking second place on a two candidate preferred basis, leaving Labor with 54.71 percent of the vote. On a "traditional" two party preferred basis with the Liberals, Labor finished with 72.27, an increase of 1.13 percentage points.

At the 2010 election however, following the retirement of former member and Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner, Labor lost Melbourne to the Greens, with Bandt securing victory over Labor candidate Cath Bowtell. Bandt retained his seat in 2013, 2016 and 2019, with an increase in his primary vote share on each occasion. In 2016 and 2019, he actually pushed Labor into third place. Despite this, the seat still remains a very safe Labor seat in "traditional" two-party matchups against the Liberals.

Notably in 2017, the division had the highest percentage of "Yes" responses in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 83.7% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "Yes" in favour of same-sex marriage.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Sir Malcolm McEacharn (1852–1910)	Protectionist	29 March 1901 – 10 March 1904	1903 election results declared void. Lost seat in subsequent by-election
		William Maloney (1854–1940)	Labor	30 March 1904 – 27 August 1940	Previously held the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of West Melbourne. Retired
		Arthur Calwell (1896–1973)	Labor	21 September 1940 – 2 November 1972	Served as minister under Curtin, Forde and Chifley. Served as Opposition Leader from 1960 to 1967. Retired
		Ted Innes (1925–2010)	Labor	2 December 1972 – 4 February 1983	Retired
		Gerry Hand (1942–)	Labor	5 March 1983 – 8 February 1993	Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Retired
		Lindsay Tanner (1956–)	Labor	13 March 1993 – 19 July 2010	Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Retired
		Adam Bandt (1972–)	Greens	21 August 2010 – present	Leader of the Australian Greens since February 2020. Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Melbourne

External links

• 2013 Melbourne profile: AEC
• 2013 Melbourne profile: ABC