The Division of Swan is an Australian electoral division located in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Swan is a

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

electorate that has swung between both major

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

in the past two decades. It extends across the Swan River from central

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, and covers most of the area between the Swan and

Canning River The Canning River (Djarlgarra in Nyungar) is a major tributary of the Swan River in the South West Land Division of Western Australia. It is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species. Source a ...

s. Swan includes the suburbs of South Perth,

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

Rivervale Rivervale may refer to: In Australia * Rivervale, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth In Singapore * Rivervale, Singapore, a precinct of the district of Sengkang located in north-eastern Singapore In the United States * Rivervale, Arkansas, a s ...

, Belmont,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

, Forrestfield and Wattle Grove. Swan includes a mix of

incomes Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...

and

housing types This is a list of house types. Houses can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or single-family detached homes and various types of attached or multi-family residential dwellings. Both may v ...

, from low-price flats to

affluent Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

suburbs with Swan River views. The electorate includes the campus of

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

, the

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

and Kewdale industrial areas, and

Perth Airport Perth Airport is an international, domestic and general aviation airport serving Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth busiest airport in Australia measured by passenger movements and falls within the boundaries of ...

. Swan covers 151 sq. kilometers. The current MP is Zaneta Mascarenhas, a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

. She was elected in the 2022 election.

History

The division is named after the Swan River. For several decades, it has been a marginal seat, extending along the Swan and

s from the affluent suburbs in the

City of South Perth The City of South Perth is a local government area in the inner southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about south of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of , maintains of roads and a lit ...

to the west, which typically vote for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, to the

City of Belmont The City of Belmont is a local government area in the inner eastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, located about east of Perth's central business district on the south bank of the Swan River. The City covers an are ...

to the east and parts of the

City of Canning The City of Canning is a local government area in the southeastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about southeast of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and had a population of approximatel ...

to the south-east, which are more working-class in orientation and typically vote for the Labor Party. A redistribution ahead of the 2010 election added the strongly Labor-voting suburb of Langford, which was previously within Tangney, which made it a notionally Labor seat. Langford was redistributed to

Burt Burt is a given name and also a shortened form of other names, such as Burton and Herbert, or a place name. Burt may refer to: People *Burt Alvord (1866–after 1910), American Old West lawman and outlaw *Burt Bacharach (born 1928), American com ...

in 2016. The division was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. Historically, the electorate was a country seat extending north to Dongara, east to Merredin and south to the coast. It contracted to an area east of the

Darling Range The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to t ...

and became a safe Country Party seat. Prior to the 1949 election, its old area became the new seat of Moore, while Swan moved into approximately its present position, although initially extending as far north-east as Midland. From 2004 to 2007 it was the third most marginal electorate in Australia, after Hindmarsh and Kingston, with the ALP incumbent

Kim Wilkie Kim Wilkie (born 3 June 1959), Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to December 2007, representing the Electoral Division of Swan, Western Australia. He was bor ...

winning 50.08 percent of the two-party-preferred vote in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. At the 2007 election, Liberal candidate Steve Irons won the seat with a swing of 0.19 percent. Irons was the only

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

challenger to unseat a Labor incumbent at the 2007 election. However, the election came at a very bad time for the state Labor government, which was only polling at 49 percent support at the time the writs were dropped. Irons was re-elected with a slightly increased majority in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, making it a fairly safe Liberal seat. Following the 2016 election Labor candidate Tammy Solonec managed to return Swan to marginal status. Steve Irons retained the seat in the 2019 election. Hannah Beazley contested the seat for Labor but ultimately conceded defeat. After Steve Iron's retirement at the

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, sought to win a fourth conse ...

, the seat was contested by Kristy McSweeney from the Liberal Party. She was defeated by Zaneta Mascarenhas from the Labor Party.

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

. 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. Swan is bordered by Swan River in the north and west,

and

in the south, and

Roe Highway Roe Highway is a limited-access highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-western suburbs. The northern terminus is at Reid Highway and Great Northern Highway in Middle ...

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link ...

and

in the east. Suburbs include: * Ascot * Belmont * Burswood *

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

* Cannington *

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

* Cloverdale *

* East Cannington * East Victoria Park * Forrestfield (part) *

* Karawara *

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

* Kewdale * Lathlain *

Manning Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannyg ...

* Redcliffe *

* Queens Park * Salter Point * South Guildford (part) * South Perth * St James *

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

* Wilson In August 2021, the

(AEC) announced that Swan would lose the suburb of Wilson to the seat of Tangney and gain the suburbs of

and Wattle Grove and the remainder of Forrestfield and

from the seat of Hasluck. These boundary changes will take place as of the next Australian federal election.https://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2021/wa/files/redistribution-of-western-australia-into-electoral-divisions-august-2021.pdf

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Swan - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1901 1901 establishments in Australia Federal politics in Western Australia