Geraldton – WA 2017

LIB 10.9% vs NAT

Incumbent MP
Ian Blayney, since 2008.

Geography
The district of Geraldton covers the town of Geraldton and a small amount of rural areas around the town. The boundaries match the boundaries of the former City of Geraldton-Greenough which existed briefly from 2007 to 2011.

Redistribution
No change.

History
Geraldton has existed since 1890. The district was dominated by the Labor Party from 1917 to 1991. Since the 1991 by-election, the Liberal Party has won the seat at all but two elections.

Jeff Carr held the seat for Labor from 1974 until 1991. In 1991 he was dumped from the ministry, and resigned. The ensuing by-election was won by the Liberal Party’s Bob Bloffwitch.

Bloffwitch was re-elected in 1993 and 1996, and lost in a big swing to Labor candidate Shane Hill in 2001.

The 2008 redistribution expanded Geraldton to take in surrounding areas, and made the seat a notional Liberal seat. Hill was defeated by Liberal candidate Ian Blayney, and Blayney was re-elected in 2013.

Candidates

Assessment
Labor is not a serious contender for the seat of Geraldton. There will be a real contest between the Liberal Party and the Nationals, who are standing a sitting member of the upper house.

2013 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Ian Blayney Liberal 9,167 47.6 +10.7
Shane Van Styn Nationals 5,081 26.4 +7.1
Kathryn Mannion Labor 3,299 17.1 -12.0
Paul Connolly Greens 1,239 6.4 +0.7
Carmen Burdett Australian Christians 469 2.4 -0.6
Informal 1,161 5.7

2013 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Ian Blayney Liberal 11,711 60.9
Shane Van Styn Nationals 7,517 39.1

2013 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Ian Blayney Liberal 14,013 72.8 +14.3
Kathryn Mannion Labor 5,223 27.2 -14.3

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and east. The Geraldton urban area is contained in the central area.

The Liberal Party’s two-candidate-preferred vote (vs the Nationals) ranged from 59.5% in the east to 60.8% in the centre.

The Labor vote ranged from 10.8% in the east to 18.3% in the north.

Voter group ALP % LIB 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Central 17.6 60.8 9,623 50.0
North 18.3 59.7 4,556 23.7
East 10.8 59.5 860 4.5
Other votes 16.2 62.9 2,597 13.5
Pre-poll 15.8 62.8 1,619 8.4

Election results in Geraldton at the 2013 WA state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Liberal vs Nationals) and Labor primary votes.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Profile of Independent Candidate Victor Tanti

    58 year-old Tanti has lived in Geraldton since 1984. He has worked at Greenough Prison since 2005 but prior to that held a variety of jobs including radio announcer, truck driver/storeman, journalist and taxi driver. He was elected to the City of Greater Geraldton Council in 2013.
    His main policy is to pressure the State Government into opening up a few of the Abrolhos Islands for mainstream and managed tourism so that Geraldton would in effect be a WA version of Townsville or Cairns. He would like the rest of the Islands to be made into a National Park but with exiting industries allowed to continue.
    He believes Geraldton is turning into a welfare town and that a new way must be found in create prosperity and jobs. Details of his campaign can be found on Abrolhos For All on Facebook.

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