Benambra – Victoria 2018

LIB 9.7%

Incumbent MP
Bill Tilley, since 2006.

Geography
Northeastern Victoria. Benambra covers the City of Wodonga and surrounding regional areas, including the towns of Chiltern, Rutherglen, Mt Beauty, Yackandandah, Beechworth, Tallangatta, and Corryong.

History
Benambra has existed as an electoral district since 1877. In that time, the seat has always been held by non-Labor parties. The Country Party held the seat from 1932 to 1976, and the Liberal Party has held it since 1976.

The seat was a contest between the old liberal and conservative parties from 1877 to 1889, when Albert Craven of the conservative party won the seat. He ended up holding the seat until 1913 and joining the official Liberal Party.

In 1913, Benambra was won by Liberal John Leckie. He won the federal seat of Indi as a Nationalist in 1917, leaving Benambra. He held Indi for only one term, but he later served as a Senator for Victoria from 1934 to 1947, serving as a federal minister from 1940 to 1941.

Benambra was won in 1917 by Henry Beardmore, a conservative member who held it for the Nationalists and the United Australia Party until his death in 1932.

The Country Party’s James Paton won the seat at the ensuing by-election, and held it until his death in 1947. He was succeeded by Thomas Mitchell, also of the Country Party. Mitchell served as Attorney-General in the state government from 1950 to 1952, and held the seat until 1976.

Upon Mitchell’s retirement in 1976, the Liberal Party’s Lou Lieberman won the seat. He served as a minister in the state government from 1979 to 1982, and held Benambra until 1992. In 1993 he was elected to the federal seat of Indi, which he held until 2001.

Benambra was held from 1992 to 2006 by Tony Plowman. In 2006, he was succeeded by Bill Tilley. Bill Tilley was re-elected in 2010 and 2014.

Candidates

• Jacqui Hawkins (Independent)
• Mark Tait (Labor)
• Bill Tilley (Liberal)
• Jenny O’Connor (Independent)
• Josh Knight (Shooters, Fishers & Farmers)
• John Bardsley (Greens)

Assessment
Benambra is a safe Liberal seat.

2014 result

2014 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths in Benambra have been divided into four areas, along local government boundaries. The four local councils in the electorate are Wodonga, Indigo, Towong and Alpine.

Towong and Alpine contain small parts of the electorate’s population, while Wodonga makes up almost 50% of the population.

The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all four areas, ranging from 55.4% in both Alpine and Indigo, up to 70.9% in Towong.

Two-party-preferred votes in Benambra at the 2014 Victorian state election

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