Menzies – Australia 2013

LIB 8.7%

Incumbent MP
Kevin Andrews, since 1991.

Map of Menzies' 2010 and 2013 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2013 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of Menzies’ 2010 and 2013 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2013 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Geography
Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Menzies covers the entirety of Manningham council area as well as a northern part of Maroondah council area. Suburbs include Bulleen, Croydon Hills, Doncaster, Donvale, Park Orchards, Templestowe and Warrandyte.

Redistribution
Menzies south-eastern boundary changed slightly. Menzies gained Croydon Hills and Croydon North from Casey, and lost a small area to Deakin.

History
Menzies was created as part of the expansion of the House of Representatives at the 1984 election. It has always been held by the Liberal Party for its short history.

The seat was first won in 1984 by Liberal candidate Neil Brown. Brown had previously held the marginal seat of Diamond Valley on two occasions, holding it from 1969 to 1972 and 1975 to 1983. He had served as a minister in the Fraser government from 1981 to 1983. Brown was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party from 1985 to 1987, and retired in 1991.

The Menzies by-election in 1991 was easily won by Liberal candidate Kevin Andrews, with no Labor candidate standing. Andrews was a strongly conservative backbencher, and pushed through a private members’ bill in 1996 overturning the Northern Territory’s euthanasia laws.

Andrews was appointed as a junior minister in 2001 and was promoted to Cabinet in 2003. He was originally responsible for implementing the Workchoices policy after the 2004 election, and then served as Minister for Immigration.

Andrews moved to the backbench after the 2007 election, but returned to the spotlight in late 2009 in opposition to Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, and was appointed to the shadow cabinet by Tony Abbott in late 2009.

Candidates

  • Kevin Andrews (Liberal)
  • Richard Cranston (Greens)
  • Manoj Kumar (Labor)
  • Agostino Guardiani (Palmer United Party)
  • Ramon Robinson (Independent)
  • Phillip Baker (Rise Up Australia)
  • Andrew Conlon (Family First)

Assessment
Menzies is a reasonably safe Liberal seat, and will be safely retained in 2013.

2010 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Kevin Andrews LIB 43,932 53.63 +2.03
Joy Banerji ALP 26,287 32.09 -2.69
Chris Padgham GRN 8,802 10.75 +4.46
Ken Smithies FF 2,892 3.53 +1.11

2010 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Kevin Andrews LIB 48,102 58.72 +2.70
Joy Banerji ALP 33,811 41.28 -2.70
Polling places in Menzies at the 2010 federal election. Central in green, East in orange, West in blue. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Menzies at the 2010 federal election. Central in green, East in orange, West in blue. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three areas: east, central and west.

The Liberal Party won a majority in all three areas, varying from 55.9% in the west to 59.5% in the east. The Greens vote varied from 9.3% in the centre to 11.4% in the east.

Voter group GRN % LIB 2PP % Total votes % of ordinary votes
West 10.34 55.89 25,656 38.92
Central 9.27 58.02 21,467 32.57
East 11.35 59.54 18,791 28.51
Other votes 11.79 62.56 20,745
Two-party-preferred votes in Menzies at the 2010 federal election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Menzies at the 2010 federal election.
Greens primary votes in Menzies at the 2010 federal election.
Greens primary votes in Menzies at the 2010 federal election.

23 COMMENTS

  3. morgieb – perhaps because these new Australians have left republican socialist dictatorships to live in a free constitutional monarchy with the superior westminster parliamentary system to run the country.

  5. It would be even more Liberal if it wasn’t so ethnic, but these are wealthy and expensive suburbs

  6. Subject to the AEC approval process, I am also planning to run for the 21st Century party (now registered) with objectives to achieve:
    –> evolving best practice, better technology and resources for schools, businesses and hospitals.
    –> a direct focus on minimizing youth unemployment (up to 20% in some areas)
    –> efficient government

    Australia needs more choice and a structured way to remain competitive and ensure every Australian has the opportunity to live fulfilling lives in their community

    Ramon Robinson, 21st Century Australia
    http://21stcenturyaustralia.com.au/
    https://www.facebook.com/ramonrobinson21C

  8. We should have Government we can all be proud of.

    I am ashamed of our current leaders, so I am giving it a go.

    Big Vision for the basics:
    – Transport infrastructure projects designed to accelerate if there is a recession.
    – Fix our hospital Emergency department bottlenecks causing Ambulance bypass and ramping
    – Focus on Youth Unemployment (up to 1 in 5 around Melbourne) and related social issues
    – Trim down the States for cost savings – Why would any Australian want different health services in each state or to need to get a new driver’s License if they move states?
    – Direct support for Local Business & exports – critical to our communities
    – Begin electronic voting and community feedback programs so politicians cannot ignore what the people want

    Vote Independent (Ramon Robinson) 1st then the majors. If I get in we all benefit, if not your vote has rolled to the major of your choice.

    Ramon Robinson
    http://www.fb.com/RamonRobinson21C
    Independent for Menzies

  10. Hi Ben/Observer,
    Happy to tone it down if you feel that candidates can’t put views out there, but I believe we need more political debate than we have at the moment. I was out in Park Orchards last weekend, and I met with the Greens Candicate Richard Cranston. We jointly went to ask people if they had questions for either of us and had good feedback about people doing the Compass curvey and changing their views on politics.
    It was good politics. Ask him.
    Cheers, Ramon

  11. Ramon – Ben has been very clear that while some political discussion is acceptable, campaigning is not. This is not a platform for candidates to campaign for the election.

  12. Hi everyone, thanks for pointing out the comments policy. I’m willing to tolerate candidates posting once about their campaign if it’s brief and they don’t get repetitive about it

  13. Hi everyone, thanks for pointing out the comments policy. I’m willing to tolerate candidates posting once about their campaign if it’s brief and they don’t get repetitive about it.

  14. I agree with Ben’s stance. What I find annoying is candidates that make motherhood statements, like. “Better Education, Better Hospitals and Improved Transport”. These mean nothing without detailed descriptions on how this will be accomplished. A case in point, the current ads that say “We will build a world class education system, with better teachers”. HOW! You cannot just throw money at the problem. I work in the education system, and my estimate is, 20% of teachers are dedicated and make a real difference, 60% just do their job, but its just a job. And the last 20% spend most of their time counting down to the next holidays. Now, given that they are not really enjoying their job, they tend to move into secondary roles, like local union delegate. So they will fight any attempts to instigate systems to remove low performing teachers, while pushing for higher wages, on the claim “higher wages will produce better teachers”.

    So let candidates put their message – but only if they treat us as intelligent and give us more than slogans and motherhood statements… WE DESERVE BETTER!

  15. Hi Rockman,
    Education is one of my passions. I believe that we should implement a whole-school rewards program for teachers. Overseas, this has been shown to reduce teacher sick days and improve student results (see link below)
    The beauty of whole-school rewards is it recognizes that schools function as teams and overcomes the many issues with results-based and individual incentives (eg teach-to-test, teacher isolation, etc).
    It is also scalable from a few schools up to the whole country. I have put additional details on my website (click above and search for education or go to this comprehensive analysis of a study overseas: http://www.aei.org/outlook/education/k-12/making-teacher-incentives-work-outlook/).

  16. Ramon – please consider the comments policy. Most people posting here can articulate deeply held views; often of the kind that trigger argumentative flare ups. This isn’t the place for campaigning.

  17. You shouldnt judge how people vote by their ethnicity. This seat is made up of varying nationalities but of those who mainly own their homes and actually work and save money so you could call them “capitalist” somewhat. So why even question why and how they vote?

  18. May I point out the info on the boundary changes is a bit wrong here because its the south “east” corner that has been changed and not the south “west” as indicated…thanks

  19. Also on the ethnicity point. Why does the Eltham area have a higher Labor vote when it has a much higher Australian born population? Another reason why ethnicity shouldnt even be considered when it comes to how anyone votes.

  20. For those interested to watch the polling results per booth, being an apprentice politician strapped for resources and not as efficient as I could have been, I have struggled to get coverage, but I did manage to cover the Maroondah part of the electorate pretty well with a letter drop and help from friends. I have spent time at the shopping centers especially 2 in East Doncaster plus Warrandyte and I have also had some help with letter drops in 3 areas around Doncaster which were close to 3 different polling booths. All together i have circulated approximately 8000 flyers. I will be at one of the big booths on Saturday. I am hoping that the booth results will vary and I’ll know if my actions have had an impact.
    Speaking with people in the community has been great as there is a lot of ideas and untapped knowledge out there. In terms of votes, I have a much clearer picture now of what it takes to have an impact. I have built my knowledge and like with anything, you never know ’till you give it a go.

  21. I’m embarrassed to have Kevin Andrews as our local member. I think if the people of Menzies knew and understood what his stance was on issues such as euthanasia and abortion he would be far less popular.

  22. Hi Chris,
    I’ll be at Templestowe Heights Primary School all day. Come and grab my flyer and ask me any questions you like.
    Tallyroom followers,
    I’ll be interested to see the results of this booth (the biggest in Menzies) as I have not been able to letter drop around this one, so it will mostly come down to the How to Vote impact (apart from building awareness online and at shopping centres).
    http://www.fb.com/RamonRobinson21C
    Ramon
    Independent for Menzies.

  23. Hi Chris,
    I’ll be at Templestowe Heights Primary School all day. Come and grab my flyer and ask me any questions you like.
    Tallyroom followers,
    I’ll be interested to see the results of this booth (the biggest in Menzies) as I have not been able to letter drop around this one, so it will mostly come down to the How to Vote impact (apart from building awareness online and at shopping centres).
    http://www.fb.com/RamonRobinson21C.
    Ramon
    Independent for Menzies.

Comments are closed.