Thomastown – Victoria 2010

ALP 31.1%

Incumbent MP
Peter Batchelor, since 1990.

Geography
Northern Melbourne. A majority of Thomastown is contained within Whittlesea council area, with parts in Darebin and Moreland councils, covering the suburbs of Fawkner and Reservoir, and parts of Epping, Lalor and Thomastown.

History
 Thomastown was first created for the 1985 election, and has always been held by the ALP.

The seat was first won in 1985 by the ALP’s Beth Gleeson. She held the seat until her death in 1989.

The 1990 Thomastown by-election was won by the ALP’s Peter Batchelor, fighting off a fierce challenge from the Australian Democrats.

Batchelor served as Secretary of the Victorian ALP before he was elected to Parliament. He has served as a minister in the Labor government since the 1999 election.

Candidates

Political situation
Thomastown is a very safe Labor seat.

2006 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Peter Batchelor ALP 23,058 74.02 -1.80
Simon Coles LIB 4,605 14.78 -1.77
Jen Hargrave GRN 2,044 6.56 -1.07
Tim Rebbechi FF 1,444 4.64 +4.64

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Peter Batchelor ALP 25,152 81.07 -0.67
Simon Coles LIB 5,872 18.93 +0.67

Booth breakdown
The fourteen booths in Thomastown have been divided into three areas: Fawkner in the south, Thomastown in the centre and Lalor in the north.

The ALP won large majorities in all three areas, although the smallest majority was in the Fawkner area, which was also the best area for the Greens.

 

Polling booths in Thomastown at the 2006 state election. Fawkner in orange, Thomastown in blue, Lalor in green.
Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Thomastown 13.49 82.71 11,936 38.47
Lalor 11.93 83.99 9,397 30.29
Fawkner 17.65 77.73 5,505 17.74
Other votes 20.92 74.25 4,186 13.49
Two-party-preferred votes in Thomastown at the 2006 state election.

4 COMMENTS

  1. It’s a sign of how badly the Cain government fell off the rails that they actually came very close to losing this solid working class seat to the Democrats at the 1990 by-election.

    With Batchelor going, the bun-fight for Labor pre-selection will be more interesting than anything election day will throw up. The Liberals will be happy to get a margin with a ‘2’ in front of it……..

  2. Are the results for that by-election available anywhere? I googled it, but couldn’t find anything… the nearest I got was at Poll Bludger, pre-2006 election. Psephos has a heap of Vic election data but only goes back to 1992.

    Former party state secretary Peter Batchelor (right) became member in February 1990 after the death of sitting member Beth Gleeson, holding off a 14 per cent swing in a by-election held at the height of the tram strike. Batchelor has since picked up a swing at each subsequent election, to the point where it is now the state’s safest.

  4. Candidates in ballot paper order are:

    Michael Burge – Liberal
    Jacquie McIntosh – Family First
    Andrew Calleja – Greens
    Bronwyn Halfpenny – Labor

Comments are closed.