Nedlands – WA 2017

LIB 19.1%

Incumbent MP
Bill Marmion, since 2008.

Geography
Inner north of Perth. Nedlands covers the suburbs of Dalkeith, Crawley, Nedlands, Shenton Park, Subiaco, Jolimont and Daglish. Nedlands covers the Subiaco council area, most of the Nedlands council area and small parts of neighbouring councils.

Redistribution
Nedlands underwent very small changes, losing a small area to Churchlands and undergoing a minor adjustment with the border with Cottesloe.

History
Nedlands has existed since 1930, and in that time the seat has nearly always been held by Liberals, including two premiers.

Nedlands was first won in 1930 by Nationalist candidate Norbert Keenan. Keenan had previously sat in the Assembly from 1905 to 1911, and served as Attorney-General from 1906 to 1909. Keenan became a minister in the Nationalist government. The Nationalists were badly defeated in 1933, and Keenan became Nationalist leader as the junior partner in a coalition government with the Country Party.

Keenan eventually joined the new Liberal Party, and held the seat until his defeat in 1950 by independent Liberal David Grayden.

Grayden held the seat for one term, losing in 1953 to Liberal candidate Charles Court. Court held Nedlands for 29 years. He served as a minister in the Brand government in the 1960s and became Liberal leader in 1972, leading the party back into power in 1974. He served as premier until his retirement in 1982.

The 1982 Nedlands by-election was won by Richard Court, son of the former member. Court became Liberal leader in 1992, and led the party to power in 1993. Court served as premier for two terms until his government’s defeat in 2001. He resigned from the leadership and as member for Nedlands soon after.

Liberal candidate Sue Walker won the 2001 Nedlands by-election. Walker was re-elected in 2005. She resigned from the Liberal Party in 2008 to contest Nedlands as an independent, but was defeated by Liberal candidate Bill Marmion. Marmion was re-elected in 2013.

Candidates

Assessment
Nedlands is a very safe Liberal seat.

2013 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Bill Marmion Liberal 12,351 58.4 +14.3 58.4
Tony Walker Labor 2,987 14.1 -1.7 14.1
Max Hipkins Independent 2,758 13.0 +13.0 13.0
George Crisp Greens 2,752 13.0 -1.1 13.0
Gail Forder Australian Christians 316 1.5 +0.3 1.5
Informal 827 3.8

2013 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Bill Marmion Liberal 14,622 69.1 +2.5 69.1
Tony Walker Labor 6,529 30.9 -2.5 30.9

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and south.

The Liberal Party’s two-party-preferred vote ranged from 62.8% in the centre to almost 77% in the south.

Voter group LIB 2PP % Total votes % of votes
South 76.8 6,224 29.3
North 63.5 5,831 27.5
Central 62.8 3,585 16.9
Other votes 70.5 4,341 20.5
Pre-poll 70.7 1,242 5.9

Election results in Nedlands at the 2013 WA state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-party-preferred votes, independent primary votes and Greens primary votes.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Nedlands is part of the western suburbs Liberal heartland.

    The corresponding areas actually swung towards the Libs at the last Federal election, any swing against the state government here and in neighbouring seats will be well below the state average.

  2. Agree that this is safe liberal.

    Saying that – Penny Taylor has been running a very strong campaign, particular in and around Subi, Shenton Park and Daglish. A lot of shops in Subi have her signs up.

    Expect a bigger swing from the North of the electorate than the South

  3. Yes I’ve noticed a few Labor placards in Subi. It definitely seems to be an area where Labor has the greatest room for improvement. If the combined Labor/Green vote can win them just one of the big booths in Subi/Shenton Park that will be a great result.

    Anywhere south of Stirling Hwy is a different story.
    .

  4. First preferences and the indicative 2PP here suggest that the Labor + Greens vote is effectively the 2PP margin (only 0.7% above the 2PP). On that basis it appears likely that Labor has won the the large Shenton Park booth and the smaller UWA booth with lineball results at the Subiaco booths and Hollywood Primary School. For Labor to win any large booth here is very unusual.

    A 10% swing is an excellent result for Labor in a seat like Nedlands, but it is also fair to say that while Bill Marmion is not a bad guy he is far from the most visible or active local MP we have seen.

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