Brand – Election 2010

ALP 6.0%

Incumbent MP
Gary Gray, since 2007

Geography
Coastal towns south of Perth. Brand covers Kwinana and Rockingham council areas and northern parts of Mandurah council, with the seat stopping short of the centre of Mandurah.

Redistribution
Brand previously covered those parts of the City of Mandurah on the northern side of the Peel Inlet. The redistribution transferred a number of small suburbs around the centre of Mandurah on the northern side of the Peel Inlet to the neighbouring seat of Canning, including Coodanup, Dudley Park and Silver Sands. The redistribution increased the Labor margin from 5.6% to 6%.

History
Brand was created as part of the expansion of the House of Representatives for the 1984 election. It has always been held by the ALP.

Brand was first won in 1984 by Wendy Fatin. Fatin had won the seat of Canning off the Liberal Party in 1983, and moved to the safer seat of Brand in 1984. She served as a minister in the Hawke/Keating government from 1990 to 1993, and retired in 1996.

In 1996, Brand was won by Kim Beazley. Beazley had previously been elected to the marginal seat of Swan in 1980. Beazley served as a minister from 1983 in the Hawke government, first as Minister for Aviation, then as a cabinet minister from 1984 to 1996. Beazley was Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 1996. He moved to the safer seat of Brand in 1996

Beazley was elected Labor leader after their 1996 election loss, and led the ALP to the 1998 and 2001 elections. After losing in 2001 he stepped down as Labor leader. He challenged for the leadership twice in 2003, but lost first to Simon Crean and then to Mark Latham. After serving on Mark Latham’s frontbench in the lead-up to the 2004 election, he was elected Labor leader in early 2005. He served in that role until December 2006, when he was replaced by Kevin Rudd, and he retired from the seat of Brand at the 2007 election. Beazley is now the Australian Ambassador to the United States.

Brand was won in 2007 by Gary Gray. Gray had been employed as an election organiser for the Australian Labor Party national office from 1986 to 1999, and was National Secretary for the 1996 and 1998 elections. Gray is now a Parliamentary Secretary.

Candidates

  • Dawn Jecks (Greens)
  • Donna Gordin (Liberal)
  • Robert Burdett (Christian Democratic Party)
  • Andrew Newhouse (Family First)
  • Gary Gray (Labor) – Member for Brand since 2007.

Political situation
Brand has always been held by the ALP, but in the case of a swing to the Liberal Party in Western Australia, this seat could be vulnerable.

2007 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Gary Gray ALP 38,131 46.15 -0.94
Phil Edman LIB 31,882 38.58 -1.31
Dawn Jecks GRN 7,110 8.60 +3.77
Brent Tremain CDP 2,061 2.49 +0.36
Andrew Newhouse FF 1,482 1.79 +1.79
Robin Scott ON 1,321 1.60 -1.16
Huw Grossmith LDP 350 0.42 +0.42
Rob Totten CEC 295 0.36 -0.64

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Gary Gray ALP 45,959 55.62 +0.97
Phil Edman LIB 36,673 44.38 -0.97

Results do not take into consideration effects of the redistribution.

Booth breakdown
Brand covers Rockingham and Kwinana council areas and parts of Mandurah council area. Booths in Rockingham have been divided into two areas.

The Liberal Party won a slim majority in the Mandurah area, while the ALP won majorities of 53% and 57% in the Rockingham area and around 65% in Kwinana.

 

Polling booths in Brand. Mandurah in red, Rockingham South in green, Rockingham North in yellow, Kwinana in blue.
Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of ordinary votes
Rockingham North 9.18 57.46 22,209 38.28
Rockingham South 9.84 53.04 17,631 30.39
Kwinana 9.85 65.43 10,534 18.16
Mandurah 6.18 49.71 7,637 13.16
Other votes 8.00 53.68 16,566
Results of the 2007 federal election in Brand.

7 COMMENTS

  3. Ah, I see the “Ecological, Social Justice, Aboriginal Party” are running…that’d be Gerry Georgatos’ party that he threatened to form after he was dumped by the Greens for the Willagee byelection. So he has managed to find a vehicle for himself afterall – hope they know what they’re getting.

  4. I don’t think there’s any doubt of that… the party seems to be based on Gerry’s old supporters at Murdoch Uni guild (where he was president and then general manager until fairly recently), so it’s his concern. I wonder if he’ll pop up somewhere else in the area, like Fremantle or Tangney.

    The Liberal-voting booth in the NE would be part of the new southern suburban sprawl, which is still a few km short of Kwinana – it doesn’t fit, and shouldn’t be lumped in with Kwinana / Rockingham. If WA gets a 16th seat in the next decade or so, that whole area will probably be grouped together as its own seat (probably marginal Liberal on recent voting)… at the moment it’s split between a few different seats (Fremantle, Tangney, bits of Canning and Brand). This part of Perth has a habit of being chopped and changed for state redistributions, as it’s far enough from the coast and river to not have many natural boundaries – there’s the lakes and that’s about it.

  5. Bird you are so funny. You follow Gerry around like you are in a love hate relationship. Gerry as he says himself will never get into politics. Never from fringe parties, from new parties and from when he was in a no win seat with the Greens. Gerry has had offers to go labor but he has to much respect for himself. He will never be a politician. He just goes out there behind the scenes doing things. He has a goal to build this party for the Aboriginal peoples and as he says for other brothers and sisters too.

    SJ you don’t know Gerry. You are Green and good for you. Gerry and you would probably get on. Gerry is very good mates with most of the Greens in WA even though there was a fall out and then he made a point against some cheats. Because of him and behind the scenes work with the Greens MPs the Greens now have new processes. Thanks to Gerry. He is good mates with Greens MPs and works closely with them.

    Bird let go of your love of other Murdoch guild types and the fact you don’t know Gerry. By the way B there is only one person from the guild in the party. Gerry is liked everywhere. At Murdoch every survey proved that, he is missed there by those who aren’t like him and step. Gerry is a friend of the Greens and an honourable person. How about helping him and working with him, rather than this business? Alan.

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