Division of Melbourne

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

Melbourne contains large sections of the cities of Melbourne and Yarra, bounded by the Yarra River and St Kilda Road to the south and Moonee Ponds Creek, Park Street, Royal Parade, and Alexandra Parade to the north. It also contains South Yarra and a portion of Prahran in the City of Stonnington.

History

Melbourne was held by the Australian Labor Party for almost all of its history. Labor first won the seat at a 1904 by-election, and held it for over a century, with former Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell the highest profile member. For most of the time from 1907 to 2004, it was one of Labor's safest seats. During this time, Labor's hold on the seat was only remotely threatened once, when Calwell saw his majority trimmed to 57.2 percent amidst the Coalition's landslide victory in 1966. This is still the closest that the conservative parties have come to winning the seat in over a century.

At the 2007 election, Melbourne became a marginal seat for the first time in a century, even as Labor won a decisive victory nationally. Greens candidate Adam Bandt took second place on a two candidate preferred basis, leaving Labor with 54.71 percent of the vote. On a "traditional" two party preferred basis with the Liberals, Labor finished with 72.27, an increase of 1.13 percentage points.

At the 2010 election however, following the retirement of former member and Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner, Labor lost Melbourne to the Greens on a large swing, with Bandt far outpolling the Liberals and securing victory over Labor candidate Cath Bowtell. Bandt retained his seat in 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022, with an increase in his primary vote share on each occasion. In 2016 and 2019, he actually pushed Labor into third place.

A redistribution of the seat before the 2025 election caused Melbourne to lose areas that had primarily voted for the Greens at the 2022 election, including Fitzroy North, Carlton North, and Clifton Hill, and gain South Yarra and part of Prahran from the abolished Division of Higgins, areas that had voted for Labor in 2022. While Bandt still won the first-preference vote in 2025, he lost on the two-candidate-preferred vote to Labor's Sarah Witty after 15 years in the seat.

In 2017, the division had the highest percentage of "Yes" responses in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 83.7% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "Yes" in favour of same-sex marriage. Additionally, in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, the division had the highest percentage of "Yes" responses of any Australian division, with 78.04% of votes cast responding "Yes" in favour of the proposal. The division also returned the highest "Yes" vote in the 1999 referendum on Australia becoming a republic.

Members

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Melbourne

References

References

1. "2016 Melbourne, Census All persons QuickStats {{!}} Australian Bureau of Statistics".
2. (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide".
3. "Profile of the electoral division of Melbourne".
4. "Division of Melbourne - AEC".
5. (22 August 2010). "Historic win for Greens". [[Fairfax Media]].
6. Green, Antony. (2025-05-03). "Melbourne Federal Election 2025 Results".
7. Truu, Maani. (2025-05-08). "Greens leader Adam Bandt concedes seat of Melbourne, ending 15 years in parliament". ABC News.
8. (2025-05-08). "Adam Bandt concedes defeat in seat of Melbourne as Greens leadership talks loom". The Guardian.