Mitcham – Victoria 2010

ALP 2.0%

Incumbent MP
Tony Robinson, since  1997.

Geography
Eastern Melbourne. Mitcham covers northeastern parts of the City of Whitehorse, specifically the suburbs of Blackburn and Blackburn North and parts of Forest Hill, Mitcham, Nunawading and Vermont.

History
Mitcham has existed since the 1967 election. It has been a marginal electorate for most of that time, alternating between the Labor Party and Liberal Party.

Mitcham was first won in 1967 by the Liberal Party’s Dorothy Goble. She held the seat until her retirement in 1976.

Mitcham was won in 1976 by George Cox, also of the Liberal Party. He held the seat for two terms, but was defeated in 1982. He later went on to hold the seat of Nunawading from 1988 to 1996.

Cox was defeated in 1982 by John Harrowfield. He served as a minister in the Kirner government from 1991 to 1992, when he lost his seat, and the government lost power.

Harrowfield was defeated in 1992 by Roger Pescott. He had previously served as Member for Bennettswood since 1985.

Pescott was re-elected in 1996, but in 1997 he resigned from Parliament, triggering a by-election. The ensuing by-election was won by the ALP’s Tony Robinson with a 16% swing.

Robinson was re-elected narrowly in 1999 with a 0.5% margin. He increased that to a 7.8% margin in 2002, before it was reduced to a 2% margin in 2006. Robinson currently serves as Minister for Gaming, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier on Veterans’ Affairs.

Candidates

Political situation
Mitcham is a very marginal seat, and the 1997 by-election shows an electorate that can deliver large swings.

2006 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Tony Robinson ALP 13,305 40.12 -7.73
Philip Daw LIB 13,085 39.46 +1.61
Rob Redman GRN 3,843 11.59 +1.01
Miriam Rawson FF 1,501 4.53 +4.53
Peter Allan IND 936 2.82 +2.82
Sharon Partridge PP 490 1.48 +1.48

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Tony Robinson ALP 17,234 51.97 -5.71
Philip Daw LIB 15,926 48.03 +5.71

Booth breakdown
Booths in Mitcham have been divided into three areas: Blackburn in the west, Mitcham in the east and Nunawading in the centre.

The ALP won a majority in all three areas, but they won a much larger majority in the Nunawading area, while the Liberal Party won a majority amongst other votes.

 

Polling booths in Mitcham at the 2006 state election. Blackburn in blue, Nunawading in yellow, Mitcham in green.

 

Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Blackburn 12.97 51.71 10,001 30.15
Mitcham 11.66 50.80 8,155 24.58
Nunawading 10.22 55.63 7,731 23.31
Other votes 11.08 49.27 7,284 21.96
Two-party-preferred votes in Mitcham at the 2006 state election.
Greens primary votes in Mitcham at the 2006 state election.

3 COMMENTS

  1. At the time, a number of anti-Kennett types tried to portray Prescott as a man of principle who “stood up to Kennett”, when in reality his resignation was little more than a dummy spit for not getting a ministry.

    It’s a sign of how bizzare the 1999 election really was that Mitcham remained the only Labor seat in the eastern suburbs, with the Liberals easily holding all their marginal seats out here despite the chaos in regional Victoria.

    As with the overlapping federal seat of Deakin, you can see how homogenous this part of Melbourne is politcally. The general trend of increasing affluence from east to west is balanced by the trend of decreasing ethnic diversity from west to east.

  2. Candidates in ballot paper order are;

    Barry O’Shea – DLP
    Daniel Ha – Family First
    Tony Robinson – Labor
    Paul Elliott – Sex Party
    Sheridan Lewis – Greens
    Dee Ryall – Liberal

Comments are closed.