Banks – Election 2010

ALP 10.4%

Incumbent MP
Daryl Melham, since 1990.

Geography
Southern Sydney. Banks covers large parts of the St George area and neighbouring suburbs. It includes most of Hurstville council area,  a majority of Kogarah council area and parts of Bankstown and Canterbury council areas. Key suburbs include Padstow, Revesby, Hurstville, Mortdale, Peakhurst, Penshurst, Allawah, Oatley and Blakehurst.

Redistribution
At the 2007 election Banks was a predominantly Bankstown-based seat with parts of Hurstville. The redistribution shifted the seat into the St George area, gaining more of Hurstville and large parts of Kogarah. In exchange it lost a majority of its territory in Bankstown LGA. The suburbs of Panania, Picnic Point, East Hills and Milperra were transferred to the seat of Hughes, which had long covered the suburbs on the other side of the Georges River. Other Bankstown areas were transferred to Blaxland and Watson. Banks gained a majority of Kogarah council area from Barton, which had previously covered the entire LGA. It also gained parts of Hurstville from Watson. This redistribution reduced the ALP margin from 11.1% to 9.7%.

History
Banks was created for the 1949 election, and has always been held by the ALP. The seat has mostly been a safe Labor seat, although the seat was very marginal at the 2001 and 2004 elections.

The seat was first won in 1949 by Labor candidate Dominic Costa. Costa held the seat for twenty years, always as a member of the opposition, retiring in 1969.

Vince Martin was elected in 1969, and held the seat until he was defeated for preselection in 1980 by John Mountford. Mountford held the seat until his retirement in 1990.

In 1990, Banks was won by Labor candidate Daryl Melham. Melham has held the seat ever since, serving in the Opposition shadow ministry from 1996 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2004. Successive swings against the ALP wore his margin down to 1.06% in 2004, although a favourable redistribution before the 2007 election, combined with a swing of almost 8%, made the seat much safer.

Candidates

• Paul Spight (Greens)
• Michael Parsons (One Nation)
• Daryl Melham (Labor)
• Ron Delezio (Liberal)

Political situation
While this seat’s volatility has recently threatened the ALP’s hold on the seat, it seems unlikely to swing greatly without major gains for the Liberal Party.

2007 result

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

These results do not take into consideration the effects of the redistribution.

Booth breakdown
Banks covers parts of four local government areas, and booths have been broken up according to those boundaries. The largest proportion of the seat lives in Hurstville, with smaller populations in Kogarah, Bankstown and Canterbury.

Generally the ALP performs weaker in areas closer to the Georges River, with the Liberal Party winning a number of booths in Hurstville and Kogarah close to the river. The ALP won a majority in all four LGAs, although they performed much stronger in Canterbury than in the larger areas. The ALP’s weakest area was in Kogarah, which was strongest for the Greens.