ALP 4.0%
Incumbent MP
Simon Millman, since 2017.
Geography
Inner north-eastern Perth. Mount Lawley is part of the Eastern Metropolitan region for the Legislative Council, and lies immediately to the north of the Perth CBD. Most of Mount Lawley lies in the southeastern corner of Stirling local government area.
The remainder of the seat lies in Bayswater and Vincent council areas. The seat covers the suburbs of Yokine, Coolbinia, Menora and parts of Mount Lawley, Dianella, Morley and East Perth.
Redistribution
No change.
History
The seat of Mount Lawley previously existed from 1950 to 1989, but was only restored at the last election in 2008. The seat has always been held by Liberals, with the exception of two terms when it was won by an independent Liberal.
Mount Lawley was held from 1962 to 1984 by Ray O’Connor. He briefly served as Premier from the retirement of Charles Court in 1982 until the ALP won government in 1983. He resigned in 1984, and the by-election was won by George Cash.
When Mount Lawley was abolished in 1989, Cash moved to the Legislative Council, where he served until his retirement in 2008.
The new seat of Mount Lawley largely replaced the seat of Yokine, which was abolished in 2008. That seat had been held by Labor MP Bob Kucera since 2001. Kucera was refused preselection in 2008 and finished his term as an independent.
In 2008, Mount Lawley was won by Liberal candidate Michael Sutherland. Sutherland was a Perth city councillor, and previously had served as a Johannesburg city councillor in the 1980s before moving to Australia. Sutherland was re-elected in 2013.
Sutherland lost to Labor candidate Simon Millman in 2017.
Candidates
- John Watt (No Mandatory Vaccination)
- Ellen Joubert (Australian Christians)
- Suzanne Migdale (Liberal)
- Simon Millman (Labor)
- Russell Goodrick (Western Australia Party)
- Gurjant Singh Sangha (Waxit)
- Herbie Schaal (One Nation)
- Lucy Nicol (Greens)
Assessment
Mount Lawley is the sort of seat the Liberal Party would need to win back if they are to have a chance of regaining government.
2017 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Simon Millman | Labor | 9,642 | 40.8 | +7.8 |
| Michael Sutherland | Liberal | 9,621 | 40.7 | -13.3 |
| Matt Roberts | Greens | 2,938 | 12.4 | +2.6 |
| Janelle van Burgel | Australian Christians | 583 | 2.5 | +0.3 |
| Kandi Revian | Animal Justice | 497 | 2.1 | +2.1 |
| Alexandra Farsalas | Micro Business | 352 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Informal | 1,099 | 4.4 |
2017 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Simon Millman | Labor | 12,767 | 54.0 | +12.9 |
| Michael Sutherland | Liberal | 10,858 | 46.0 | -12.9 |
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three parts: north, south and west.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 52.4% in the west to 55.8% in the north.
The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 8.4% in the north to 17.6% in the south.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| West | 10.3 | 52.4 | 5,655 | 23.9 |
| North | 8.4 | 55.8 | 4,090 | 17.3 |
| South | 17.6 | 53.3 | 4,017 | 17.0 |
| Pre-poll | 11.0 | 53.4 | 3,679 | 15.6 |
| Other votes | 14.6 | 55.1 | 6,192 | 26.2 |
Election results in Mount Lawley at the 2017 WA state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and Greens primary votes.
Labor should easily retain this seat, but it’s quite a marginal seat for Labor’s inner city bastion. The Liberal primary vote has a clear base here around 35% and many neighbours have the political DNA of a western suburbs seat.
Labor should get a healthy swing here. But may not be as dramatic as some polls are saying at a statewide level.
CG, it hasn’t happened yet, but do you think the move of the Edith Cowan University campus will have a large impact next time around?
I haven’t lived in this part of the world for a long time, so I’m wondering how the demographics have changed, if at all…..
@Scott Lang
I attended ECU Mount Lawley in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the closest polling stations are the better Liberal area of Mount Lawley, and that of Menora (also Liberal)
There is some student housing next to the campus, but most students, when I was there, came from all over Greater Perth when I was there (I lived in the seat of Kingsley during university days), so can’t see that affecting much here.