Division of Higgins
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The Division of Higgins is an Australian Electoral Division in
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
for the
Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...
. The division covers in
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 ...
's inner south-eastern suburbs. The main suburbs include , , , , , , , , and ; along with parts of , and . Though historically a safe conservative seat, Higgins was won by the Liberal Party by a margin of just 3.9 percent over the Labor Party at the 2019 election, the closest result in the seat’s history. It then flipped to Labor in the 2022 election. In June 2021, the AEC announced that the electoral division would include the locality of
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
at the following federal election, but that part of the suburb of Glen Iris and the suburb of Hughesdale would be transferred to the
Division of Kooyong The Division of Kooyong is an Australian Electoral Division for the Australian House of Representatives in the state of Victoria, which covers an area of approximately in the inner-east suburbs of Melbourne. It is currently based on Kew, and ...
and
Division of Hotham The Division of Hotham is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Hotham covers an area of approximately 83 square kilometres from Oakleigh in the north to Dingley Village in the s ...
respectively. Higgins is a largely white-collar electorate. According to the 2016 census, 46.5% of electors hold a
Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
, more than twice the national average. The current member for Higgins, since the 2022 federal election, is
Michelle Ananda-Rajah Michelle Renuka Ananda-Rajah (Tamil: மிசேல் ஆனந்தராஜா; born 10 December 1972) is a Tamil Australian member of the Australian Labor Party for the Division of Higgins elected in the 2022 Australian federal election. ...
, 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 ...
, and the first Labor member in the seat's history.


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 1949. Like other seats in inner-eastern Melbourne, Higgins had historically been a stronghold 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 ...
. It was considered a "leadership seat", in part because the seat's first two members,
Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...
and Sir John Gorton, were
Prime Ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is no ...
of Australia in the period between 1966 and 1971. More recently, the seat was held by the longest serving
Treasurer of Australia The Treasurer of Australia (or Federal Treasurer) is a high ranking official and senior minister of the Crown in the Government of Australia who is the head of the Ministry of the Treasury which is responsible for government expenditure and ...
and former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party,
Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello (born 14 August 1957) is an Australian businessman, lawyer and former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia in government of John Howard from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving treasurer in Australia' ...
, who was a prominent member of the Howard Government. Costello resigned from the seat on 19 October 2009, and was succeeded in the ensuing by-election by
Kelly O'Dwyer Kelly Megan O'Dwyer (born 31 March 1977) is a former Australian politician. She served in the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019, representing the Liberal Party, and held senior ministerial office from 2015 to 2019. O'Dwyer was a solic ...
, who would go on to become a minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. O'Dwyer retired in 2019. At that election,
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 ...
came reasonably close to winning this seat for the first time ever, with their highest two-party preferred vote in the history of the seat (46.12%). Liberal candidate Katie Allen, however, saw off a challenge from barrister
Fiona McLeod Fiona Grace McLeod (born 3 December 1957) is a Scottish politician who served as acting Minister for Children and Young People from 2014 to 2015. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) f ...
, despite suffering a swing of six percent, making Higgins marginal against Labor for the first time ever. Allen became the first Liberal candidate to come up short of an outright majority on the first count. High-profile Greens candidate and former Australian Rules footballer Jason Ball also contested the seat, receiving almost a quarter of the vote. At the 2022 election, Labor took the seat for the first time. While Allen led Labor challenger
Michelle Ananda-Rajah Michelle Renuka Ananda-Rajah (Tamil: மிசேல் ஆனந்தராஜா; born 10 December 1972) is a Tamil Australian member of the Australian Labor Party for the Division of Higgins elected in the 2022 Australian federal election. ...
for most of the night, on the seventh count the Green candidate's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Ananda-Rajah, allowing Ananda-Rajah to win on a swing of 4.7 percent. Higgins is the only Division to have been held by two Prime Ministers. This occurred when Holt went missing while Prime Minister, and then-Senator Gorton used the ensuing by-election to transfer to the House. Prior to 2022, it has only been out of Liberal hands for eight months in its existence, when Gorton became an independent to protest against
Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...
's becoming Liberal leader. The seat is one of the few to have produced two federal Treasurers; Holt and Costello served as Treasurers during their respective tenure in Higgins. Another member, Kelly O'Dwyer had a stint as Assistant Treasurer.


Name

The division is named after Justice H. B. Higgins (1851–1929), who was a Member of 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 presiding ...
(1894) and president of the
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(1904). He was a founding Member of
Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...
, serving as the
Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
member for Northern Melbourne and was the Attorney-General in the Watson Government (1904). He went on to become a
Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
of the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...
(1906–1929)


Members


Election results


References


External links


Division of Higgins – Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1949 1949 establishments in Australia City of Boroondara City of Stonnington City of Glen Eira Electoral districts and divisions of Greater Melbourne