|
|
|
|
| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Fremantle, Western Australia
Western Perth: Coolbelup, Fremantle, Jandakot, Willagee
Sitting member: Hon Melissa Parke, elected 2007. Retiring 2016
Enrolment at close of rolls: 99,631
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 4.8%
2016 notional Labor majority over Liberal: 5.4%
|
Candidates in ballot-paper order:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
1. Mick Connolly
Mature Australia |
2. Chris Jenkins
Socialist Alliance |
3. Kate Davis
Australian Greens |
4. Pierrette Kelly
Liberal Party |
5. Josh Wilson
Australian Labor Party |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Fremantle has existed since Federation, and has always been based on the port city of Fremantle and surrounding suburbs. Before 1949 it extended
northwards into some of the wealthy areas which are now in the seat of Curtin, and this made the seat politically marginal. After 1949, however,
it was among the safest Labor seats in Australia, although Labor majorities have slowly fallen as blue-collar employment has declined and the
Fremantle area has become colonised by middle-class people. Thus Fremantle now has a fairly high level of median family income for a safe Labor
seat, and a lower proportion of people born in non English speaking countries than Perth, Stirling or Swan.
Fremantle, a traditional "leadership seat," has been held by five Labor ministers in a row: Prime Minister John Curtin, Kim Beazley senior, John
Dawkins, Dr Carmen Lawrence, and Melissa Parke. Lawrence, a former WA Premier, won a by-election in 1994. But her career in Canberra was haunted
by events from her time as Premier, and she retired in 2007.
Melissa Parke, Labor MP for Fremantle since 2007, was a law lecturer and senior lawyer with the UN before her election. She was a Parliamentary
Secretary and (briefly) a minister in the Rudd-Gillard Government. A strong leftist, she was clearly frustrated with Labor policy under Bill
Shorten and is retiring at this election.
Labor chose as her successor Chris Brown, community campaigns organiser with the Maritime Workers Union, who won a bitter preselection contest.
In May he was disendorsed when it was revealed that he had a conviction for assault. Labor's new candidate will be Josh Wilson, a Fremantle
City Councillor and former staffer to Parke. Later in May, the Liberal candidate, Sherry Sufi, withdrew after making comments about marriage equality
and Indigenous matters. His replacement is Pierrette Kelly, a teacher and staffer for Senator Chris Back.
The 2016 redistribution has slightly strengethed the seat for Labor by cutting out some Liberal-voting areas along the Swan River. The Greens poll
well in the older part of Fremantle, and held the state seat in that area from 2009 to 2014. But most of the seat is low-income suburbia and reliable
for Labor.
Back to main page
Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
|
|