Yuroke – Victoria 2010

ALP 20.2%

Incumbent MP
Liz Beattie, since 2002.  Previously Member for Tullamarine 1999-2002.

Geography
North-western fringe of Melbourne. Yuroke covers central parts of the City of Hume, including the suburbs of  Craigieburn, Gladstone Park, Greenvale, Kalkallo and Yuroke and parts of Bulla, Roxburgh Park, Tullamarine and Westmeadows.

History
Yuroke was created in 2002, replacing the abolished seat of Tullamarine. The seat has been a safe Labor seat at both elections since its creation.

The seat was won in 2002 by Liz Beattie. She had previously been Member for Tullamarine for one term, winning it off the Liberal Party in 1999. She currently serves as Parliamentary Secretary assisting the Premier on Multicultural Affairs and Veteran Affairs.

Candidates

Political situation
Yuroke is one of the safest Labor seats in Victoria.

2006 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Liz Beattie ALP 23,531 63.21 -8.06
Cathy Finn LIB 8,909 23.93 -2.32
Belinda Connell GRN 2,814 7.56 +7.56
George Barrett FF 1,970 5.29 +5.29

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Liz Beattie ALP 26,126 70.19 -2.59
Cathy Finn LIB 11,095 29.81 +2.59

Booth breakdown
Polling booths in Yuroke have been divided into three areas: south, north and central. The ALP polled most strongly in the north, and least strongly in the centre of the seat. The Greens polled better in the south of the seat, and most strongly in the centre of the seat, while Family First’s highest-polling area was at the northern end of the seat.

 

Polling booths in Yuroke at the 2006 state election. South in yellow, Central in green, North in blue.

 

Voter group GRN % FF % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
South 7.93 4.75 69.38 12,177 32.72
North 6.54 6.09 76.28 11,716 31.48
Central 8.15 4.84 63.26 6,981 18.76
Other votes 8.08 5.36 68.14 6,347 17.05
Two-party-preferred votes in Yuroke at the 2006 state election.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Basically a seat in three parts: established lower/middle income areas around Gladstone Park and Westmeadows (‘South’), low income mortgage belt territory around Craigieburn (‘North’), and mostly undeveloped semi-rural land in between. The central part of the seat lies under the airport flight paths, so consists mostly of parklands, market gardens, horse studs, etc, hence the much softer Labor vote. The centre of the seat also contains the relatively middle-class suburb of Greenvale (I think that’s the big 59% booth in the centre of the seat), which is on a ridge that provides views of the city.

    (note to Ben: that 80% booth you have in ‘Central’ is part of Craigieburn/Roxburgh Park so probably fits better with the other ‘North’ booths, and the 55% booth in the far north (Mickleham?) is much more in character with the ‘Central’ part of the seat.

  2. It is interesting that prior to the 20001 redistribution, this had been a marginal seat before it took in more of the Labor areas

  3. Tullamarine was Liberal held during the Kennett years, but I think it went further west to include Sunbury and surrounding semi-rural areas, so was much better for the Liberals. Craigieburn was in Yan Yean, which was also marginal.

    The2001 redistribution basically locked up the best Labor bits from both Yan Yean and Tullamarine in this seat, making Gisborne/Macedon and Yan Yean notionally Liberal. Obviously the Libs couldn’t take advantage of this free kick because they got squashed in 2002.

  4. Candidates in ballot paper order:

    Graham Dawson – Greens
    Liz Beattie – Labor
    Ian Cranson – Family First
    Philip Cutler – Liberal

Comments are closed.