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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Braddon, Tasmania
Northern Tasmania: Burnie, Devonport, Queenstown, Wynyard
Sitting member: Brett Whiteley (Liberal), elected 2013
Enrolment at close of rolls: 72,519
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 2.6%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Scott Jordan
Australian Greens |
2. Glen Saltmarsh
Australian Recreational Fishers Party |
3. Justine Keay
Australian Labor Party |
4. Brett Whiteley
Liberal Party |
5. Graham Hodge
Christian Democrats |
6. Clinton Rice
Renewable Energy Party |
7. Joshua Boag
Liberal Democratic Party |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Braddon was created in 1955 when the old seat of Darwin, which had occupied the same area of north-western Tasmania since 1903, was renamed.
The seat has at different times been strongly Labor and strongly anti-Labor, reflecting an electorate which is largely working-class but also
parochial and conservative. Consistent with this, Braddon has the 9th lowest median income level of any seat, and the 4th lowest level of people
born in non English speaking countries. At the same time it has low levels of families with dependent children and of dwellings being purchased:
this is a seat of low-income home-owners, not homebuyers.
Labor's strongest area is in Burnie - even in 2013 Labor won five of Burnie's eight booths. The Liberals dominate the rural areas, while the two
parties usually break roughly even in Devonport, Ulverstone and Wynyard. The old mining towns of the west coast, once called "the Gibraltar of
Labor," are now politically marginal.
Sid Sidebottom won Braddon for Labor in 1998. He seemed well- entrenched, but in 2004 he became a victim of Mark Latham's anti- logging forestry
policy, and was defeated by Mark Baker. In 2007, with a new Labor leader and a new forests policy, Sidebottom regained the seat, and was a
Parliamentary Secretary in the Rudd-Gillard government. But in 2013 he fell to the large swing against Labor that swept Tasmania in 2013.
Brett Whiteley, Liberal MP for Braddon since 2013, is a Christian pastor and former CEO of Burnie Sports and Events. He was a Burnie City
Councillor and then a Tasmanian state MP before winning Braddon. He has not been a conspicuous MP, but in October 2015 he was appointed a
Government Whip.
After a long period of dominance of state politics, Labor is at a low ebb in Tasmania, and this will make it hard for Labor to regain federal
seats in 2016. At the 2014 state election, Labor polled only 29.5% of the primary vote in Braddon, while the Liberals polled 61.8%. Whiteley's
majority of 2.6% will be improved for him by three years as an incumbent. Labor's candidate will be Justine Keay, who works for a Tasmanian
state Labor MP and is a Devonport City Councillor. She was an unsuccessful candidate at the state election.
These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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