Bundoora – Victoria 2010

ALP 15.1%

Incumbent MP
Colin Brooks, since 2006.

Geography
Northern Melbourne. Bundoora covers parts of Banyule, Darebin and Whittlesea councils, and the suburbs of Watsonia and Yallambie and parts of the Bundoora, Greensborough, Macleod and Rosanna.

History
The electoral district of Bundoora was first created prior to the 1976 election, and has always been held by the ALP.

The seat was first won in 1976 by John Cain Junior, son of the former Labor Premier. Cain was elected Labor leader in 1981, and led the party to victory at the 1982 election. Cain won re-election in 1985 and 1988. Cain resigned as Premier in 1990, and retired at the 1992 election.

In 1992, Bundoora was won by the ALP’s Sherryl Garbutt. Garbutt had been elected in the 1989 Greensborough by-election, but that seat was abolished in the redistribution before the 1992 election.

Garbutt was promoted to the Labor frontbench after their 1992 election loss, and became a minister in the Bracks government in 1999.

She retired at the 2006 election. Justin Madden, the former footballer who served as a Minister in the Legislative Council, was originally preselected to fill the seat, with his upper house seat slated to be abolished by Legislative Council reforms. Madden found another upper house seat, and the ALP preselected former Banyule councillor Colin Brooks, who won the seat in 2006.

Candidates

Political situation
Bundoora is a very safe Labor seat.

2006 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Colin Brooks ALP 16,868 53.05 -6.46
Kane Afford LIB 9,544 30.02 +0.42
Sarah Jefford GRN 3,529 11.10 +1.47
Dean Cronkwright FF 1,550 4.88 +4.88
Rod McLennan CEC 303 0.95 -0.31

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Colin Brooks ALP 20,701 65.12 -2.45
Kane Afford LIB 11,086 34.88 +2.45

Booth breakdown
There are only twelve booths in Bundoora. Booths in the western half of the seat have been grouped as “Bundoora” and those in the eastern half as “Watsonia”.

The ALP won a large majority in both areas, with 68% in Bundoora and 63% in Watsonia.

 

Polling booths in Bundoora at the 2006 state election. Bundoora in green, Watsonia in blue.

 

Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Watsonia 11.19 63.23 13,015 40.94
Bundoora 10.52 68.21 12,197 38.37
Other votes 12.00 63.15 6,575 20.68
Two-party-preferred votes in Bundoora at the 2006 state election.
Liberal primary votes in Bundoora at the 2006 state election.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Despite its margin, this is one of the more middle-class parts of the northern suburbs (like neighbouring Ivanhoe and Eltham). The Liberals came close to winning it during the Kennett years, and there was serious talk that they were a chance in 1999. Labor won’t be in trouble this year, but it’s still the sort of seat that could get interesting if a really big swing was on.

    Possibly the ‘North East Link’ freeway proposal, which would run through the middle of the seat along Greensborough Road, might cause some backlash here.

  2. Candidates in ballot paper order are:

    Karen-Joy McColl –
    Colin Brooks – Labor
    Goldy Briar – Liberal
    Tim Roberts – Greens
    Luke Conlon – Family First
    Catherine O’Farrell – DLP

Comments are closed.