The Division of Forrest is an Australian Electoral Division 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 ...

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.

History

The division was created in 1922 and is named for

Sir John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...

, the first

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

and a federal Cabinet minister. It is located in the south-western corner of the state and, as of the 2016 election, includes the cities of Bunbury and Busselton along with the Shires of Augusta-Margaret River, Capel,

Dardanup Dardanup is a small town in the South West (Western Australia), South West region of Western Australia. The town is in the fertile Ferguson valley and is near the Ferguson River (Western Australia), Ferguson River. The first European settlemen ...

, Donnybrook-Balingup,

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

and Nannup (though Nannup is set to be transferred to the neighbouring seat of O'Connor at the next federal election).https://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2021/wa/files/redistribution-of-western-australia-into-electoral-divisions-august-2021.pdf Before the 1943 election, it was a Country Party seat, but since the 1949 election it has been held by the Liberals for all but one term.

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

has only held the seat for three terms, during the high-tide elections of

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

and

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

, and in the midst of the Coalition's near-defeat of 1969. It reverted to the Liberals in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

even as Labor won government. The seat was marginal for most of the 1980s, but a 1990 redistribution made the seat much more secure for the Liberals. In 2022, amidst a statewide collapse of Liberal Party support, the seat was made marginal with sitting member

Nola Marino Nola Bethwyn Marino (née Catalano; born 18 February 1954) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2007, representing the Division of Forrest in Western Australia. She is a member of the Liberal Pa ...

holding the seat on a 4.29 percent margin. Notable members include

Nelson Lemmon Nelson Lemmon (22 March 1908 – 20 March 1989) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as Department of Works and Housing, Minister for Works and Housing (1946–1949) in the Chifley Gov ...

, a minister in the Chifley Government,

Gordon Freeth Sir Gordon Freeth, KBE (6 August 191427 November 2001) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1969, including as a minister in the Coalition governments from 1958 to 1969. He lat ...

, a minister in the

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

, Holt and

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hi ...

governments, and

Geoff Prosser Geoffrey Daniel Prosser (born 6 November 1948) is an Australian businessman and former politician. He served in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007, representing the Liberal Party of Australia, L ...

, a minister in the

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

government.

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Forrest - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1922 1922 establishments in Australia Federal politics in Western Australia