Vasse is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in Western Australia. Vasse is based in the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

region of the state, centred on the town of Busselton and is named for the

Vasse River The Vasse River is a river in the South West of Western Australia. The headwaters of the river are in the Whicher Range below Chapman Hill and it flows in a northerly direction through the City of Busselton until discharging into the Vasse E ...

. It has been a safe seat 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 ...

at all times since its creation, including as its previous incarnation, Sussex. The current MLA, Liberal

Libby Mettam Elizabeth Mettam (born 3 May 1977) is an Australian politician. She has been the Liberal member for Vasse in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since a by-election held on 18 October 2014. She is the leader of the Western Australian L ...

, won a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on 18 October 2014 following the resignation of former Liberal leader

Troy Buswell Troy Raymond Buswell (born 19 March 1966) is a former Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2014, representing the seat of Vasse. He was Treasurer of Western Australia in th ...

Geography

Originally centred on

Geographe Bay Geographe Bay is in the south-west of Western Australia around 220 km southwest of Perth. The bay was named in May 1801 by French explorer Nicolas Baudin, after his ship, ''Géographe''. The bay is a wide curve of coastline extending from ...

and Busselton, the redistribution ahead of the 2008 state election expanded the electorate south to include large parts of the

Shire of Augusta-Margaret River Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

which had formerly been in Warren-Blackwood prior to that district's abolition. Apart from Busselton and its suburbs, the Vasse district includes the towns of Vasse, Dunsborough/

Quindalup Quindalup is a small town in the South West region of Western Australia. It is situated along Caves Road between Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Pert ...

, Yallingup,

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range. ...

, Cowaramup, Gracetown and Prevelly as well as part of Witchcliffe.

History

Vasse was first created for the 1950 state election out of the former seat of Sussex. It is a historically safe seat for the

, which has held the seat continuously since its foundation. Indeed, counting its time as Sussex, it has been in the hands of the Liberals and their predecessors since the first Legislative Assembly was convened in 1890. The only time it has been out of the hands of a conservative party was when sitting Liberal Bernie Masters resigned to sit as an independent in 2004–05. Vasse had only two members in its first 46 years,

Stewart Bovell Sir William Stewart Bovell (19 December 1906 – 15 September 1999) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electorates of Sussex and Vasse between 1947 and 1971. Bovell served as a m ...

(1950–1971) and Barry Blaikie (1971–1996). Masters succeeded Blaikie at the 1996 state election, but lost preselection for a third term ahead of the 2005 election in favour of then Shire of Busselton mayor

. Masters resigned from the party and contested the election as an independent, but was defeated by Buswell. Buswell served as Liberal leader from January to August 2008, and as

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

from 2008 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2014. Buswell resigned in 2014 after a drink-driving controversy, and was succeeded at the resulting by-election by

. The by-election, which was not contested by the opposition Labor Party, saw the National Party cut the Liberal margin in Vasse to less than 4%.

Members for Vasse

Election results

References

External links

* ABC Election Profiles
2005
* WAEC District Maps
1996–20052005–20082008–
{{Electoral districts of Western Australia Vasse Busselton 1950 establishments in Australia Constituencies established in 1950