Murray-Wellington – WA 2013

LIB 8.8%

Incumbent MP
Murray Cowper, since 2008. Previously Member for Murray 2005-2008.

 

Geography
Southern fringe of Perth. Murray-Wellington covers rural areas between Mandurah and Bunbury.

The district covers a large area including all of Harvey Shire and most of Murray and Waroona Shires. The seat borders the City of Mandurah at the northwestern corner of the seat.

Redistribution
Murray-Wellington’s boundaries changed very slightly, with a small area at the southern edge of the seat transferred into the district of Bunbury. The Liberal Party’s margin increased from 8.4% to 8.8%.

History
The district of Murray-Wellington has existed since 1890. The seat was originally named “Murray”, and has changed names back and forth between “Murray” and “Murray-Wellington” seven times since 1911. Most recently, Murray-Wellington was renamed Murray in 2005 and restored to its current name in 2008.

The seat has been held by the Liberal Party and its predecessors for over a century with only one exception.

John Bradshaw won the seat for the Liberal Party in 1983. In 1989, a redistribution saw Murray-Wellington split into the separate seats of Murray and Wellington, and Bradshaw moved to Wellington.

Keith Read won the seat of Murray for the ALP in 1989, before losing to the Liberal Party’s Arthur Marshall in 1993. Marshall moved to the seat of Dawesville in 1996, and held it until his retirement in 2005.

In 1996, Bradshaw moved back to Murray-Wellington, and held it until his retirement in 2005.

Murray Cowper won Murray in 2005, and was re-elected in 2008.

Candidates

Assessment
Murray-Wellington is a safe Liberal seat.

2008 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Murray Cowper LIB 8,713 44.4 +1.1
Anthony Marinovich ALP 5,824 29.6 -5.7
Michael Rose NAT 1,643 8.4 +0.8
Deni Fuller GRN 1,374 7.0 +2.5
David Bolt FF 1,232 6.3 +4.7
Vivian Hill CDP 415 2.1 +0.2
Alycia Bermingham IND 216 1.1 +1.1
Kevin Cloghan IND 143 0.7 +0.7
Brian McCarthy CEC 85 0.4 +0.2

2008 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Murray Cowper LIB 11,467 58.4 +2.4
Anthony Marinovich ALP 8,154 41.6 -2.4

 

Polling booths in Murray-Wellington at the 2008 WA state election. North in orange, Central in green, South in blue.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Murray-Wellington have been divided into three areas: North, Central and South. The North covers those parts in Murray Shire. The South covers those parts close to Bunbury, with the remainder grouped as Central.

The Liberal vote varied from 51% in the north to 39% in the south. The ALP polled over 30% in the north and the centre, and less than 28% in the south.

The Nationals came third, with their vote varying from 11.5% in the south to 3.4% in the north. The Greens vote was relatively consistent, varying from 5.8% to 6.9%. Family First’s vote varied from 10.4% in the south to 3.9% in the north.

Voter group LIB % ALP % NAT % Total votes % of ordinary votes
North 51.41 30.02 3.43 4,400 36.48
Central 45.91 30.36 9.44 3,982 33.01
South 39.26 27.85 11.52 3,681 30.51
Other votes 42.65 30.26 7.68 4,164
Liberal primary votes in Murray-Wellington at the 2008 WA state election.
Labor primary votes in Murray-Wellington at the 2008 WA state election.

2 COMMENTS

  2. The southern half of this seat was Leschenault before the 2008 redistribution, held by Dan Sullivan. He quit the Libs before the election, and ran for Family First in the upper house. The strong FF results in Australind and Eaton (over the river in Collie-Preston) are probably related to that.

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