Oakleigh – Victoria 2014

ALP 5.1%

Incumbent MP
Ann Barker, since 1999. Previously Member for Bentleigh 1988-1992.

Geography
Southern Melbourne. Oakleigh covers the suburbs of Carnegie, Huntingdale, Murrumbeena, Notting Hill and Oakleigh and parts of Chadstone, Clayton, Mount Waverley, Mulgrave and Ormond. Oakleigh covers northeastern parts of the City of Glen Eira and south-western parts of the City of Monash.

Redistribution
Oakleigh expanded to the east, gaining Huntingdale, Notting Hill, Clayton and Mulgrave from the electorates of Clayton and Mulgrave, and losing parts of Glen Huntley and Ormond to Caulfield. These changes increased the Labor margin from 4.7% to 5.1%

History
Oakleigh has existed since the 1927 election. The seat has alternated between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. From 1982 until 2010, the seat was a bellwether electorate. The seat has always been marginal, and every change in MP has taken place when the sitting MP was defeated for re-election.

The seat was first won in 1927 by the ALP’s Squire Reid. he held the seat until his defeat in 1932 by Vinton Smith, an unendorsed Liberal candidate. Smith held the seat until 1937, when Reid defeated him again. Reid held the seat until 1947.

Reid was defeated in 1947 by Liberal candidate John Lechte, who only held the seat for one term, losing in 1950 to the ALP’s Van Doube.

Doube held the seat until 1961, when he lost his seat. He later held the seat of Albert Park from 1970 to 1979.

Oakleigh’s longest serving MP was the Liberal Party’s Alan Scanlan, who held the seat from 1961 to 1979. He was defeated in 1979 by Race Mathews.

Mathews had been a federal Labor MP from 1972 to 1975, and served as a minister in the Cain state Labor government from 1982 to 1988.

Mathews was defeated in 1992 by the Liberal Party’s Denise McGill, then Mayor of Oakleigh. McGill held Oakleigh until her defeat in 1999. She currently serves as a Monash City councillor.

McGill was defeated in 1999 by Ann Barker, who had previously been the ALP Member for Bentleigh from 1988 to 1992.

Barker has won re-election in Oakleigh in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Candidates
Sitting Labor MP Ann Barker is not running for re-election.

• Stephen Dimopoulos (Labor)
• Theo Zographos (Liberal)
• Parashos Kioupelis (Independent)
• Steven Merriel (Greens)
• Anna Scotto (Independent)

Assessment
Oakleigh is a marginal Labor seat, but is held with a decent margin which should increase in 2014, despite Labor suffering from the loss of their incumbent MP.

2010 election result

2010 two-party-preferred result

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

The ALP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote – with a solid 57.5% in the east and 57.9% in the centre, and a smaller 51.5% majority in the west.

The Greens polled well in Oakleigh, with a vote ranging from 12% in the east to 16% in the west.