Thomastown – Victoria 2014

ALP 21.6%

Incumbent MP
Bronwyn Halfpenny, since 2010.

Geography
Northern Melbourne. A majority of Thomastown is contained within Whittlesea council area, with a small part in the Darebin council area. The electorate covers the suburbs of Lalor and Thomastown, and parts of Epping, Reservoir and Wollert.

Map of Thomastown's 2010 and 2014 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2014 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of Thomastown’s 2010 and 2014 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2014 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Redistribution
Thomastown shifted north, covering a much larger geographic area. Thomastown gained the remainder of Lalor and Thomastown from Mill Park on the east, and parts of Epping and Wollert from Yan Yean. On the southern edge, Thomastown lost Fawkner to Broadmeadows, and most of Reservoir to Preston. These changes increased the ALP margin from 20.2% to 21.6%.

History
Thomastown was first created for the 1985 election, and has always been held by the ALP.

The seat was first won in 1985 by the ALP’s Beth Gleeson. She held the seat until her death in 1989.

The 1990 Thomastown by-election was won by the ALP’s Peter Batchelor, fighting off a fierce challenge from the Australian Democrats.

Batchelor served as Secretary of the Victorian ALP before he was elected to Parliament. Batchelor held the seat from 1990 to 2010.

Bronwyn Halfpenny, also of the ALP, won Thomastown in 2010.

Candidates

Assessment
Thomastown is the safest Labor seat in Victoria.

2010 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Bronwyn Halfpenny Labor 19,190 61.29 -12.73 63.50
Michael Burge Liberal 7,591 24.25 +9.47 22.83
Andrew Calleja Greens 2,952 9.43 +2.87 8.35
Jacquie McIntosh Family First 1,576 5.03 +0.39 4.85
Democratic Labor 0.47

2010 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Bronwyn Halfpenny Labor 22,025 70.19 -10.88 71.60
Michael Burge Liberal 9,356 29.81 +10.88 28.40
Polling places in Thomastown at the 2010 Victorian state election. Epping in yellow, Lalor East in green, Lalor West in red, Thomastown in blue. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Thomastown at the 2010 Victorian state election. Epping in yellow, Lalor East in green, Lalor West in red, Thomastown in blue. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Thomastown have been divided into four partsL Epping (in the north), Thomastown (in the south) and Lalor East and Lalor West in between.

The ALP won a massive two-party-preferred majority in all four areas, ranging from 66.2% in Epping to 75.8% in Lalor West.

Voter group GRN % ALP 2PP % Total % of votes
Lalor East 7.20 74.89 8,371 24.20
Thomastown 8.23 73.66 8,203 23.71
Lalor West 9.02 75.75 5,333 15.42
Epping 7.67 66.19 4,354 12.59
Other votes 9.53 67.88 8,332 24.09
Two-party-preferred votes in Thomastown at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Thomastown at the 2010 Victorian state election.