The electoral district of Altona was one of the

electoral districts of Victoria Electoral districts of Victoria are the electoral districts, commonly referred to as "seats" or "electorates", into which the Australian State of Victoria is divided for the purpose of electing members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, on ...

, Australia, for the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

. It covered an area of in western

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and included the suburbs of Altona,

Altona Meadows Altona Meadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona Meadows recorded a population of 18,479 at the . Located p ...

, Laverton,

Point Cook Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Point Cook recorded a population of 66,781 at the 2021 census. Point Cook ...

, Seabrook and Seaholme. It also included the

RAAF Williams RAAF Williams is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base set across two locations, at Point Cook and Laverton, located approximately south-west of the Melbourne central business district in Victoria, Australia. Both establishm ...

airbase and the Point Cook Coastal Park. It lay within the

Western Metropolitan Region Western Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was create ...

of the upper house, the Legislative Council. The seat was abolished by the Electoral Boundaries Commission ahead of the 2022 election and largely replaced by the electoral district of

History

The Altona seat was created in an electoral redistribution for the 1992 election, and has been a safe seat for the Labor Party throughout its history. It was won in 1992 by

Carole Marple Carole Frances Marple (''née'' Whitelaw) (born 24 December 1941) is a former Australian politician. She was the Labor member for Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 1996. Carole Frances Whitelaw was born at Benalla, north ...

, who was associated with the party's Pledge Left faction, a hard-left splinter from the Socialist Left. In 1993, a broad "peace deal" was struck between the Socialist Left and the right-wing

Labor Unity The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...

faction, which saw both factions agree to deliver the Altona preselection for the 1996 election to Socialist Left candidate

Lynne Kosky Lynne Janice Kosky (2 September 1958 – 4 December 2014) was an Australian politician and senior minister in the Government of Victoria. She represented the electoral district of Altona in the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Labor Part ...

instead of Marple. As a result, Kosky defeated Marple for Labor preselection, and succeeded her as member for Altona at the 1996 election, while Marple instead contested and lost the marginal Legislative Council seat of Geelong Province. Kosky served as a minister throughout the 1999–2010 Labor government under Steve Bracks and

John Brumby John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

, holding the positions of Minister for Post Compulsory Education, Training and Employment (1999–2002), Minister for Finance (2000–2002), Minister for Education and Training (2002–2006), Minister for Public Transport (2006–2010) and Minister for the Arts (2006–2010). Kosky resigned mid-term on 18 January 2010, citing significant health problems in her family. This necessitated a February by-election, which was won by former Labor state president

Jill Hennessy Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is most known for her roles on the American television series '' Law & Order'', on which she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons, and ''Crossin ...

. Hennessy was re-elected at the 2010 election and 2014 election. Following the Labor victory at the 2014 election, she was appointed Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Andrews Ministry. The seat was abolished ahead of the 2022 election and replaced by the electoral district of

Members for Altona

Election results

References

External links

Electorate profile: Altona District, Victorian Electoral Commission
1992 establishments in Australia 2022 disestablishments in Australia Former electoral districts of Victoria (Australia) {{VictoriaAU-gov-stub