Euroa – Victoria 2014

NAT 13.6%

Incumbent MP
Bill Sykes, Member for Benalla since 2002.

Geography
Central Victoria. Euroa covers areas along the Hume Highway from Benalla to Kilmore, and other surrounding areas including the towns of Benalla, Broadford, Euroa, Heathcote, Kilmore and Seymour. Euroa covers the entirety of the Benalla and Strathbogie council areas, most of Mitchell Shire and small parts of Campaspe, Greater Bendigo and Greater Shepparton council areas (but not Bendigo or Shepparton).

Redistribution
Euroa is a new electorate. Seats in northern Victoria were substantially redrawn, with the three seats covering most of Euroa being renamed or abolished: Benalla, Seymour and Rodney. The former seats of Benalla and Seymour were both split between Euroa and Eildon, another new electorate immediately south-east of Euroa. The largest number of voters in Euroa were previously in Benalla, but the Benalla part of the population does not make up a majority.

Euroa took in Benalla, Euroa and Violet Town from Benalla. The seat took in Kilmore, Seymour, Puckapunyal and Broadford from Seymour, and Heathcote and Stanhope from Rodney. Euroa also took in a small part of the electorate of Shepparton.

History
Euroa is a new electorate, but takes in parts of Benalla and Seymour.

Benalla has existed continuously since 1904. It has been held by the Country Party and National Party almost continuously since 1920.

The seat was won in 1982 by the National Party’s Pat McNamara. He was elected leader of the National Party in 1988. He served as Deputy Premier and in a variety of ministerial roles throughout the Kennett government from 1992 to 1999. He resigned from Parliament following the defeat of the Kennett government, triggering a by-election in 2000.

The ALP had gained substantial ground in Benalla in 1999, the Labor primary vote growing from 23% to 42%, and cutting the Nationals margin from 15.1% to 7.4%. The Labor candidate, Denise Allen, ran again in the by-election, winning the seat by 237 votes with a 7.8% swing.

The National Party’s Bill Sykes regained the seat for the Nationals in 2002 with 52% of the two-party vote. In 2006, he gained a 15% swing, turning his marginal seat into one of the safest seats in the state.

Seymour was first created as an electoral district in 1992. It was won in 1992 by Marie Tehan. She had served as a Liberal Member of the Legislative Council for Central Highlands province since 1987. She served as a minister in the Kennett government until her retirement in 1999.

In 1999, the ALP’s Ben Hardman won Seymour by a narrow margin. He was re-elected with a 9.5% margin in 2002 and again re-elected in 2006 with a slightly smaller margin.

In 2010, Labor MP Ben Hardman lost to Liberal candidate Cindy McLeish.

Candidates
Sitting Benalla Nationals MP Bill Sykes is not running for re-election.

1. Julie-Anne Winzer (Family First)
2. Steph Ryan (Nationals)
3. Tony Schneider (Liberal)
4. Lisa Adams (Country Alliance)
5. Clare Malcolm (Labor)
6. Simon Roberts (Greens)

Assessment
Both the Nationals and the Liberal Party will be hoping to win Euroa, with the Nationals starting as the favourite.

2010 election result – Benalla

2010 two-party-preferred result – Benalla

Booth breakdown
Booths in Euroa have been divided into four parts:

• Central – Strathbogie Shire
• East – Benalla Shire
• North – Campaspe Shire and the City of Greater Shepparton
• South – Mitchell Shire and Greater Bendigo Region

The Coalition candidate (Liberal or National) won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all four areas. In three of these areas the Nationals vote ranged from 73% to 78% – in Central, East and North. In South (which covers all of those parts previously contained in Seymour), the Liberal candidate polled just over 50% of the two-party-preferred vote.