McMahon – Election 2010

ALP 13.8%

Incumbent MP
Chris Bowen, Member for Prospect since 2004.

Geography
Western Sydney. McMahon covers a central part of Western Sydney, covering parts of a number of local government areas. It covers parts of Holroyd, Fairfield, Penrith and Blacktown councils, with a majority of voters living in Fairfield. The seat covers the suburb of Fairfield itself as well as the suburbs of Smithfield, Bossley Park, Wetherill Park, Greystanes, Pemulwuy, Erskine Park and St Clair.

Redistribution
McMahon is a new name for a federal electorate, named after former Liberal Prime Minister William McMahon. The seat itself, however, is almost an exact continuation of the former electorate of Prospect.

Comparing the 2007 seat of Prospect with the 2010 seat of McMahon, most boundaries remained consistent. A sliver of Blacktown council north of Eastern Creek was transferred to Chifley, and parts of Wentworthville and Merrylands were transferred to Parramatta. In exchange McMahon gained an area from Fowler to its south, stretching as far south as Cecil Hills.

History
The original seat of Prospect was first created for the 1969 election, and has always been held by the ALP.

The seat was first won in 1969 by the ALP’s Dick Klugman. Klugman held the seat for 21 years, retiring in 1990.

He was succeeded by Janice Crosio, who had held a local state seat for the ALP since 1981, and had served as a minister for the last four years of the NSW state Labor government, from 1984 to 1988.

Crosio’s move to federal politics saw her serve as a Parliamentary Secretary from 1992 until the defeat of the Keating government in 1996. Crosio held the seat until the 2004 election.

At the 2004 election, the seat was won by former Mayor of Fairfield, Chris Bowen. Bowen quickly rose to the Labor frontbench and was appointed Assistant Treasurer in the first Rudd ministry after the 2007 election. He was promoted to Cabinet in 2009.

Candidates

• Astrid O’Neill (Greens)
• Jamal Elishe (Liberal)
• Manny Poularas (Christian Democratic Party)
• Chris Bowen (Labor) – Member for Prospect since 2004, Minister for Human Services, Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law.

Political situation
Despite the name change, McMahon retains the strong Labor voters that have made Prospect so safe for forty years, and that won’t change in 2010.

2007 result (Prospect)

2007 two-candidate-preferred result (Prospect)

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

Booth breakdown
McMahon is made up of parts of four local government areas. There are no polling booths in the Blacktown part of the seat, so I have divided booths between the three remaining LGAs. A majority of voters live in the Fairfield part of the seat. Overall the ALP does substantially better in Fairfield, polling two-thirds of the vote, compared to a vote just short of 60% in the other parts of the seat.