Incumbent MLC
Ivan Dean, since 2003.
Geography
Northern Tasmania. Windermere covers the eastern shore of the Tamar River, stretching from the north-eastern suburbs of Launceston to George Town. The electorate covers the entire George Town council area, the rural parts of the City of Launceston, and a small part of the Launceston urban area.
Redistribution
Windermere expanded to take in rural parts of the City of Launceston to the east of the existing electorate including Lilydale, as well as a slightly larger part of the Launceston urban area.
History
The electorate of Windermere was created by the 1999 redistribution, but mostly replaced the seat of Westmorland, which had existed since 1885.
The seat was held by a series of three independents from 1919 to 1985, but since 1985 no MP won re-election until 2009.
Darryl Chellis held the seat from 1985 to 1991, then George Brookes from 1991 to 1997.
In 1997, Silvia Smith won Westmorland as an independent Labor candidate. Smith had held the federal seat of Bass for the ALP from 1993 to 1996.
Smith was allocated to Windermere when the seats were redistributed in 1999.
In 2003, Smith was defeated by conservative independent Ivan Dean. Dean was also elected as Mayor of Launceston from 2005 to 2007.
In 2009, Dean was re-elected, seeing off a challenge from former Labor MP Kathryn Hay (running as an independent) and future Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson.
Dean won a third term in 2015.
Candidates
Sitting independent MLC Ivan Dean is not running for re-election.
- Nick Duigan (Liberal)
- Vivienne Gale (Independent)
- Geoff Lyons (Labor)
- Will Smith (Independent)
- Rob Soward (Independent)
Assessment
Incumbent MLC Dean is supporting independent Will Smith, who will be competing with Liberal candidate Duigan for the conservative vote. Labor has held ambitions for this seat for a long time, and are running the former federal MP for this area, but it seems more likely to go to one of the conservatives, particularly if the House of Assembly election produces a Liberal win, as seems likely. Dean has never held the seat easily, winning less than 56% of the vote after preferences in both 2009 and 2015.
Recent elections have seen a trend of retiring independents being replaced by party members, and holding the election alongside the lower house election will make it even harder for Smith to overcome the Liberal candidate.
2015 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| Ivan Dean | Independent | 7,650 | 44.0 |
| Jennifer Houston | Labor | 4,964 | 28.5 |
| Scott McLean | Independent | 2,889 | 16.6 |
| Vanessa Bleyer | Greens | 1,900 | 10.9 |
| Informal | 972 | 5.3 |
2015 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| Ivan Dean | Independent | 9,693 | 55.7 |
| Jennifer Houston | Labor | 7,710 | 44.3 |
Booth breakdown
Polling places in Windermere have been split into three parts: central, north and south. Polling places in the George Town council area have been grouped as ‘north’, while those booths in the City of Launceston have been grouped as ‘Central’ and ‘South’.
Ivan Dean’s vote was strongest in the south (45%) and the north (44%), while the Labor vote peaked at 31% in the north.
These figures have not been adjusted to account for the redistribution.
| Voter group | Dean % | ALP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 40.1 | 29.5 | 6,640 | 38.2 |
| South | 45.1 | 27.9 | 4,602 | 26.4 |
| North | 44.2 | 31.1 | 3,146 | 18.1 |
| Other votes | 51.5 | 25.8 | 1,832 | 10.5 |
| Pre-poll | 48.4 | 22.9 | 1,183 | 6.8 |
Election results in Windermere at the 2015 Legislative Council election
Toggle between primary votes for the four candidates.