Malvern – Victoria 2014

LIB 20.5%

Incumbent MP
Michael O’Brien, since 2006.

Geography
Inner southeastern Melbourne. Malvern covers central and eastern parts of Stonnington local government area, specifically the suburbs of Armadale, Kooyong, Malvern and Malvern East and parts of the suburbs of Chadstone, Glen Iris and Toorak.

Redistribution
Malvern expanded slightly to the west, gaining more of Toorak from Prahran.

History
Malvern was first created for the 1933 election, and in that time it has always been won by the Liberal Party and its predecessor.

The seat was first won in 1945 by Trevor Oldham for the Liberal Party. Oldham had previously served as Member for Boroondara for the United Australia Party from a by-election in 1933 until the seat was abolished at the 1945 election. He served as Treasurer and Deputy Premier in a number of Liberal Party state governments, and was elected Liberal leader after the 1952 election. He died shortly after in an air crash on his way to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The seat was won at the 1953 by-election by John Bloomfield. He served as a minister in the Bolte Liberal government from 1955 to 1967, and retired at the 1970 election.

The seat was won in 1970 by Lindsay Thompson, who had served as a Member of the Legislative Council since 1955, first for Higinbotham province, and then Monash province. He had served as a minister in the Liberal government since 1958. Thompson became Premier of Victoria in June 1981, and served until his defeat at the March 1982 election.

Thompson resigned from Parliament following his election defeat, and the 1982 by-election was won by Geoff Leigh. He moved to the new seat of Mordialloc in 1992, and held it until his defeat in 2002.

Leigh had lost preselection for Malvern in 1992 to Robert Doyle. He served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the second term of the Kennett government and was promoted to the frontbench after Kennett’s defeat in 1999. In October 2002 he was elected Liberal leader, but lost badly at the state election the following month. He was replaced as Liberal leader in 2006 and retired from the seat of Malvern at the 2006 election. He went on to win election as Lord Mayor of Melbourne in 2008.

Malvern was won in 2006 by Michael O’Brien, a former advisor to Peter Costello. Michael O’Brien was re-elected in 2010. He joined the ministry after the 2010 election, and has served as Treasurer since 2013.

Candidates

1. Michael O’Brien (Liberal)
2. James Bennett (Greens)
3. Les Tarczon (Labor)

Assessment
Malvern is a very safe Liberal seat – the safest Liberal seat in the Melbourne metropolitan area.

2010 election result

2010 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown
Booths in Malvern have been divided into three areas: central, east and west.

The Liberal Party won large two-party-preferred majorities in all three areas, ranging from 60.5% in the east to 77.2% in the west.

The Greens came third, with a vote ranging from 11.2% in the west to 15.8% in the east.