Williamstown – Victoria 2010

ALP 24.3%

Incumbent MP
Wade Noonan, since 2007.

Geography
Western Melbourne. Williamstown covers areas near Port Phillip Bay to the west of the Melbourne CBD. Williamstown covers eastern parts of Hobsons Bay council area and a small southern part of the City of Maribyrnong, covering the suburbs of Brooklyn, Newport, Seaholme, South Kingsville, Spotswood, Williamstown, Williamstown North and parts of Altona, Altona North and Yarraville.

History
Williamstown has existed as an electoral district in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since the Assembly first sat in 1856. It has been held by the ALP continuously for over a century. In recent decades the seat has been held by two Labor Premiers.

The seat was held by a series of unaffiliated members of Parliament in the 19th century before the development of the modern political party. The seat’s MP, William Carter, became a member of the Labor Party in 1891, holding the seat until 1894.

Williamstown was won in 1894 by James Styles as a Labor member. He held the seat until 1900. He later served as a Protectionist Senator from 1901 until his defeat in 1906.

Liberal MP Alexander Ramsay held the seat for two terms from 1900 to 1904, when the Labor Party’s John Lemmon regained the seat. Lemmon held the seat for over half a century, retiring in 1955. William Floyd held the seat from 1955 until 1973. Gordon Stirling held the seat from 1973 until 1988.

Williamstown was won in 1988 by Joan Kirner, a Labor government minister who had been an MLC for Melbourne West province since 1982. Kirner became Premier of Victoria in 1990, and served in the role until her defeat at the 1992 election. She held the seat of Williamstown until her resignation in 1994.

The 1994 by-election was won by Steve Bracks, who had previously served as an advisor to Premiers John Cain and Joan Kirner. Bracks quickly moved to the Opposition frontbench, becoming Shadow Treasurer in 1996. He was elected Labor leader in early 1999 and unexpectedly won the 1999 election, forming a minority government with the support of independent MPs. Bracks won a second term in 2002 and a third in 2006. Bracks resigned as Premier and Member for Williamstown in July 2007.

The 2007 Williamstown by-election was won by ALP candidate Wade Noonan, federal assistant secretary of the Transport Workers Union, who defeated former Mayor of Maribyrnong Janet Rice, running for the Greens.

Candidates

Political situation
Williamstown is a very safe Labor seat.

2006 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Steve Bracks ALP 20,010 61.70 -2.94
Alan Evers-Buckland LIB 6,706 20.68 +1.91
Michael Faltermaier GRN 4,008 12.36 +2.12
Veronica Hayes FF 1,443 4.45 +4.45
Wajde Assaf IND 264 0.81 +0.81

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Steve Bracks ALP 24,066 74.25 -1.46
Alan Evers-Buckland LIB 8,346 25.75 +1.46

2007 by-election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Wade Noonan ALP 16,784 55.74 -5.96
Janet Rice GRN 6,595 21.90 +9.54
Catherine Cumming IND 2,703 8.98 +8.98
Veronica Hayes FF 1,473 4.89 +0.44
Vern Hughes DLP 780 2.59 +2.59
Janis Rossiter IND 648 2.15 +2.15
Vivienne Millington IND 485 1.61 +1.61
Nathan Tavendale IND 331 1.10 +1.10
Wajde Assaf IND 312 1.04 +1.04

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Wade Noonan ALP 19,288 64.10
Janet Rice GRN 10,801 35.90

Booth breakdown
Booths in Williamstown have been divided into four areas. Those booths in the suburb of Williamstown itself have been grouped together. Those in the City of Maribyrnong have been grouped as “North”, with the remainder divided between “Central” and “West”.

The western end of the seat was the strongest for the ALP at both the 2006 election and the 2007 by-election. The Greens polled best at the northern end of the seat at both elections.

 

Polling booths in Williamstown at the 2006 state election. Central in red, North in yellow, West in blue, Williamstown in green.

 

2006 election breakdown

Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Williamstown 13.51 70.19 7,987 24.64
Central 11.93 77.56 7,004 21.61
West 5.48 78.15 6,285 19.39
North 18.86 76.09 5,237 16.16
Other votes 12.86 70.03 5,899 18.20

2007 by-election breakdown

Voter group ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Williamstown 58.32 6,950 23.10
Central 65.65 6,890 22.90
West 75.22 5,952 19.78
North 57.38 4,944 16.43
Other votes 63.48 5,353 17.79
Two-party-preferred votes in Williamstown at the 2006 state election.
Greens primary votes in Williamstown at the 2006 state election.
Two-party-preferred (Labor vs Green) votes at the 2007 Williamstown election.

3 COMMENTS

  1. In the Age on Saturday the 9th of October there was a table with the 2010 Commonwealth primaries for several inner city seats. The Williamstown primaries were Greens 16.7%, ALP 57.4% and Liberal 25.9%. The table also described Williamstown as South of the Yarra.

  3. Another good Greens result here: 19.7% of the formal vote. As with Derrimut, probably partly due to the donkey vote, and also there only being three candidates. Has Williamstown ever gone to preferences before?

    Best Greens booths: 30.3% at Yarraville and 28.9% at Yarraville Central, where they comfortably beat the Liberals. Also 26.3% at Kingsville and 24.5% at Spotswood (where Labor got their lowest vote, just 37.8%). Greens went down to 11% at Altona North.

    (If anyone’s wondering, I’ve been using percentages of the total vote for these booth results, not the formal vote. Probably makes about 1% difference.)

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