McEwen – Australia 2022

ALP 5.3%

Incumbent MP
Rob Mitchell, since 2010.

Geography
Northern Victoria. McEwen covers the northern fringe of Melbourne and rural areas further north, including Gisborne, Romsey, Macedon, Whittlesea, Strathewen, Kilmore, Diamond Creek, Woodend and Wallan.

Redistribution
A number of changes were made to McEwen’s borders. The seat lost Sunbury to Hawke, gained Woodend from Bendigo and gained Diamond Creek from Jagajaga. These changes increased the Labor margin from 5.0% to 5.3%.

History

McEwen was created when the Parliament was expanded in 1984, and was first won by Peter Cleeland of the ALP. The seat has traditionally been considered a marginal seat, although the Liberal Party held it continuously from 1996 until 2010.

Cleeland held on in 1987 before losing to Fran Bailey in 1990. Cleeland returned in 1993 before Bailey defeated him again in 1996. Bailey held on at every election from 1996 to 2010, but never with a great margin. She held on with a 2.2% margin in 1996, 1.0% in 1998 and 1.2% in 2001. She gained a 6.4% margin in 2004, but that melted away in 2007, when her margin was wiped out and the seat became the most marginal seat in the country.

Bailey led for most of the count after the 2007 election but her Labor opponent, Rob Mitchell, was declared the winner by six votes. A full recount gave Bailey a margin of twelve votes. This result was challenged in court and after seven months Bailey was declared the victor with a margin of twenty-seven votes.

In 2010, Bailey retired and Mitchell was comfortably elected.

Mitchell has been re-elected three times.

Candidates

  • Neil Barker (Greens)
  • Paul McRae (United Australia)
  • Christopher Neil (Federation)
  • Chris Bradbury (One Nation)
  • John Herron (Liberal Democrats)
  • Richard Welch (Liberal)
  • Rob Mitchell (Labor)
  • Assessment
    McEwen is not quite so marginal as it was in 2007-2013, but could still be in play if Labor does poorly.

    2019 result

    Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
    Rob Mitchell Labor 37,911 39.4 -2.8 39.8
    Phillip Fusco Liberal 33,162 34.5 -1.3 35.0
    Neil Barker Greens 8,026 8.3 -0.2 9.5
    Ronnie Graham One Nation 5,693 5.9 +5.9 5.1
    Chris Hayman United Australia Party 3,016 3.1 +3.1 3.3
    Deb Butler Derryn Hinch’s Justice 3,878 4.0 +4.0 3.2
    Ruth Parramore Animal Justice 2,890 3.0 +0.2 2.5
    Robert James Hyndman Independent 1,552 1.6 +1.6 1.4
    Others 0.3
    Informal 5,334 5.3 -0.3

    2019 two-party-preferred result

    Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
    Rob Mitchell Labor 52,892 55.0 -1.0 55.3
    Phillip Fusco Liberal 43,236 45.0 +1.0 44.7

    Booth breakdown

    Polling places in McEwen have been divided into three areas. Polling places in the Macedon Ranges council area have been grouped as “West”, those in the Mitchell council area have been grouped as “North-East” and those in the Nillumbik and Whittlesea council areas have been grouped as “South-East”.

    Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 55.7% in the west to 57.7% in the north-east.

    The Greens primary vote ranged from 6.7% in the north-east to 12% in the west.

    Voter group GRN prim % ALP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
    South-East 10.6 56.1 22,266 25.6
    West 12.0 55.7 13,997 16.1
    North-East 6.7 57.7 6,643 7.6
    Pre-poll 7.7 54.0 28,297 32.5
    Other votes 10.0 55.0 15,931 18.3

    Election results in McEwen at the 2019 federal election
    Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.

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    52 COMMENTS

    1. This electorate and Aston are the only two seats in Victoria with Dutton as leader that are at risk at falling. Depending on the retributions I don’t see the LNP winning seats here as the state Liberal opposition seem to be constantly dragging down their federal counterparts.

    2. @bob still got 18 months til the election. Vic liberals will have gotten rid of pesutto by then. I’d wager. Aston should be largely the same byt mcewen will be chopped up and moved in the redistribution as it’s always one the last if not the last to be drawn and usually just ends up with what’s left. And in mine it becomes safe for labor

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