Cottesloe – WA 2017

LIB 20.9%

Incumbent MP
Colin Barnett, since 1990.

Geography
Inner north of Perth. The seat of Cottesloe covers the southern end of the western suburbs, including Cottesloe, Claremont, Mosman Park, North Fremantle, Mount Claremont and Bold Park.

Redistribution
Cottesloe expanded north, taking in Bold Park from Churchlands.

History
Cottesloe has existed since 1950, and has always been held by the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party’s Ross Hutchinson won Cottesloe in 1950 after a successful football career. He held Cottesloe until his retirement in 1977, served as a minister from 1959 until 1971, and was Speaker from 1974 until 1977.

Bill Hassell, also of the Liberal Party, won the seat in 1977, and held it until 1990. Hassell was leader of the opposition from 1984 until 1986.

Liberal candidate Colin Barnett won Cottesloe in a 1990 by-election, and moved immediately to the frontbench. Barnett became deputy leader of the Liberal Party in 1992, and became a minister when the Liberal Party won government in 1993.

Barnett served as a minister for the entirety of the government, and Barnett took over the Liberal leadership shortly after the government lost power in 2001.

Barnett led the Liberal Party for the next term, and stepped down from the leadership after losing the 2005 election. Barnett announced a plan to retire from politics in late 2007, but suddenly became the party leader in August 2008 following the resignation of Troy Buswell. Barnett led the party into the September 2008 election, which was successful. Barnett became premier of a new Liberal-National government.

Barnett’s government won a second term at the 2013 election.

Candidates

  • Alida Lancee (Independent)
  • Nicole Poppas (Micro Business Party)
  • Greg Boland (Greens)
  • Colin Barnett (Liberal)
  • Dmitry Malov (Independent)
  • Riaan Groenewald (Australian Christians)
  • Michael Watson (Independent)
  • Caitlin Collins (Labor)

Assessment
Cottesloe is a very safe Liberal seat.

2013 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Colin Barnett Liberal 14,036 64.7 +1.2 64.7
Emma Williams Labor 2,650 12.2 -5.3 12.2
Kevin Morgan Independent 2,482 11.4 +11.4 11.4
Greg Boland Greens 2,246 10.4 -6.7 10.3
Neil Fearis Australian Christians 281 1.3 -0.7 1.3
Others 0.1
Informal 781 3.5

2013 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Colin Barnett Liberal 15,380 70.9 +1.5 70.9
Emma Williams Labor 6,307 29.1 -1.5 29.1

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and south.

The Liberal Party’s two-party-preferred vote ranged from 63% in the centre to 75% in the south.

The Greens came third, with a vote ranging from 8.4% in the south to 11% in the centre.

Voter group LIB 2PP % Total votes % of votes
North 73.1 6,462 29.7
Central 73.6 6,023 27.7
South 64.1 4,218 19.4
Other votes 68.7 3,261 15.0
Pre-poll 74.2 1,792 8.2

Election results in Cottesloe at the 2013 WA state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-party-preferred votes, independent primary votes and Greens primary votes.

5 COMMENTS

  1. While this is safe as houses for the Libs, a strong independent could make this interesting in the future, perhaps if Barnett retires following an election loss and a by election takes place.
    That being said i’d imagine Labor coming second here this time around but in future elections the Greens should come a distant second similar to the seats around the northern beaches in Sydney and the inner east in Melbourne.

  2. I can’t see Barnett staying on if he loses the election, a by election could be very interesting

  3. A by-election in Cottosloe would be a non-event. The Liberal pre-selection battle on the other hand…

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