Deakin – Election 2010

ALP 1.4%

Incumbent MP
Mike Symon, since 2007.

Geography
Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Main suburbs are Burwood, Blackburn, Nunawading, Mitcham, Ringwood, Heathmont, and Croydon. Seat covers a majority of Maroondah and Whitehorse local government areas.

History
Deakin was first created in 1937, and has only been won by the ALP twice in that time, being almost always held by the United Australia Party and Liberal Party.

The seat originally covered rural areas to the east and north-east of Melbourne, until the 1968 redistribution moved the seat into the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, in the same sort of area that the seat covers today.

The seat was first won by the UAP’s William Hutchinson in 1937. Hutchinson had previously held the neighbouring seat of Indi. Hutchinson joined the Liberal Party in 1944 and retired from Parliament at the 1949 election. Frank Davis then held it until 1966, when Alan Jarman won the seat. Jarman was defeated by John Saunderson (ALP) in 1983. Saunderson moved to the new seat of Aston in 1984, when Julian Beale won the seat for the Liberals.

Beale was succeded in 1990 by Ken Aldred. Aldred had previously been elected at the 1983 Bruce by-election and held Bruce until the 1990 redistribution. Aldred was disendorsed before the 1996 election after raising conspiracy theories in Parliament, based on documents supplied by the Citizens Electoral Council. Aldred was later selected by local branches to run in the marginal seat of Holt at the 2007 election before having his preselection vetoed by the state party.

The seat was won in 1996 by Phil Barresi, who held it until his defeat in 2007 by the ALP’s Mike Symon.

Candidates

  • Peter Lake (Family First)
  • David Howell (Greens)
  • Benjamin Walsh (Liberal Democrats)
  • Phil Barresi (Liberal) – Member for Deakin 1996-2007.
  • Mike Symon (Labor) – Member for Deakin since 2007.
  • Alex Norwick (Australia First)
  • Abraham Seviloglou (Independent)

Political situation
This seat is bound to be a key contest in the next election, and Phil Barresi has a history of managing to hold onto the marginal seat for over a decade, so this will be a fierce contest.

2007 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Phil Barresi LIB 36,501 44.35 -6.24
Mike Symon ALP 34,451 41.86 +5.71
Bill Pemberton GRN 6,978 8.48 +0.62
Fiona Bronte FF 2,589 3.15 +0.81
Paul Nicholson DEM 1,205 1.46 -0.51
Nick Stevenson LDP 586 0.71 +0.71

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Mike Symon ALP 42,319 51.41 +6.38
Phil Barresi LIB 39,991 48.59 -6.38

Booth breakdown
I have divided the booths into four areas. Blackburn-Burwood and Mitcham-Nunawading, which make up the Whitehorse part of the seat, and Ringwood and Heathmont-Croydon, which make up the Maroondah part of the seat.

The ALP performs stronger in the Whitehorse parts of the seat, while the Liberals perform better in Maroondah.

Polling booths in Deakin. Blackburn-Burwood in yellow, Mitcham-Nunawading in green, Ringwood in red and Heathmont-Croydon in blue.
Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Blackburn-Burwood 8.23 53.78 23,883 29.02
Mitcham-Nunawading 9.03 54.02 15,313 18.60
Ringwood 8.46 50.95 13,636 16.57
Heathmont-Croydon 7.29 48.01 10,351 12.58
Other votes 9.00 48.54 19,127 23.24
Polling booths in Deakin, showing results of the 2007 election.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Barresi’s website has a strongly local focus and can’t see anything on border security: reading the ethnic make-up of the electorate?
    Ken Aldred: protectionist and rather anti-Israel wonder if he was NCC?
    Julian Beale fled Deakin after the redistribution made it Labor if he had stayed he would have held it and presumably been a minister, instead he fled to Bruce and fell victim to the next redistribution.

  2. I’ve known Phil Barresi for a long time and he is a fighter. I believe he has been re-endorsed for the Libs. This should be an interesting seat to watch on election night and may be an early pointer to the outcome.

  4. If Phil Barresi isn’t desperate to get in, I am a donkey!

    He has sent so many unmarked letters to me it isn’t funny, does he know how much paper/energy he has wasted?

    Phil Barresi, (from what I can see), doesn’t care about the environment.

    Mike Symon, is not as bad but still, he isn’t immune to this practice.

    The Independant look like a good choice until I read his pamphlet last night, he said quote “Scrap Smart meters”, so he thinks that reducing our power bill isn’t a good idea by reviewing what is happening/turning things off remotely?

    The Greens, well now, give credit where credit is due, they have stuck to their guns, I respect that, but they aren’t my cup of tea.

    So I don’t know who to vote for!

  6. To Charles commenting 19.8.10 at around 4pm.

    Charles, I might not have understood what you meant but I will try anyway. Do you really want the authorities telling you how much electricity you should use? Do you really want others to switch your electricity off remotely? Surely, you would like to retain that right for yourself. You can read your own bills to see what your usage has been like .

    Regards,

    Abraham Seviloglou
    Independent Candidate for Deakin

  7. There must be something wrong with your website. My comments made a few days ago have mysteriously dropped off your site whilst all the others have remained.

    Regards,

    Abraham Seviloglou
    Independent Candidate for seat of Deakin

Comments are closed.