Gorton – Australia 2013

ALP 23.6%

Incumbent MP
Brendan O’Connor, since 2004. Previously Member for Burke 2001-2004.

Map of Gorton's 2010 and 2013 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2013 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of Gorton’s 2010 and 2013 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2013 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Geography
Western Melbourne. Gorton covers all of the City of Melton and western parts of the City of Brimbank. As well as Melton, Gorton covers the suburbs of Derrimut, Deer Park, Cairnlea, Albanvale, Kings Park, Burnside, Ravenhall, Caroline Springs, Delahey, Hillside and Calder Park.

Redistribution
Gorton shifted to the west. Previous boundaries included the eastern edge of the City of Melton, but not Melton itself and semi-rural parts of the council area, all of which was in Lalor. Gorton previously covered a majority of the City of Brimbank, but large areas were transferred into Calwell, Gellibrand and Maribyrnong, including Keilor, Taylors Lakes, St Albans, Ardeer and Sunshine West. This increased the ALP’s margin from 22.2% to 23.6%.

History
Gorton is the newest seat in Victoria, having been created at the 2004 election. The seat replaced the abolished seat of Burke, which sat in the same part of Melbourne. It is named after former Prime Minister John Gorton, who died in 2002. In its short history Gorton has been a very safe Labor seat, as was its predecessor seat of Burke.

Burke was created for the 1969 election. It was largely a safe seat, although it was considered marginal for much of the 1980s. It was held by Keith Johnson until 1980, followed by Andrew Theophanous from 1980 to 1984, when he moved to the new seat of Calwell, which he held until 2001. The seat was then held by Neil O’Keefe from 1984 to 2001. O’Keefe served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the second term of the Keating government.

In 2001, Burke was won by Brendan O’Connor, an official with the Australian Services Union, and O’Connor won the renamed Gorton in 2004. O’Connor was promoted to the Labor frontbench as a junior minister after the 2007 election. He has served in a number of ministerial roles, joining Cabinet in March 2012, and in March 2013 was appointed as Minister for Immigration.

Candidates

Assessment
Gorton is a very safe Labor seat.

2010 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Brendan O’Connor ALP 58,767 59.98 -1.95
Damon Ryder LIB 23,116 23.59 -0.73
Steve Wilson GRN 9,949 10.15 +4.06
Sean Major FF 6,153 6.28 +2.33

2010 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Brendan O’Connor ALP 70,705 72.16 +0.94
Damon Ryder LIB 27,280 27.84 -0.94
Polling places in Gorton at the 2010 federal election. Central in blue, East in green, West in orange. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Gorton at the 2010 federal election. Central in blue, East in green, West in orange. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three areas: central, east and west. These three areas are clearly delineated. Those polling places that were previously included in Lalor in are grouped as “west”. Those polling places in the City of Melton that were in Gorton in 2010 are grouped as “central”, while those in the City of Brimbank are grouped as “east”.

The ALP won a majority of over 70% in all three areas, varying from 71.8% in the centre to 78.4% in the east.

Voter group GRN % ALP 2PP % Total votes % of ordinary votes
West 6.55 73.68 19,047 35.20
East 10.66 78.36 18,477 34.14
Central 9.32 71.80 16,590 30.66
Other votes 11.27 70.31 20,465
Two-party-preferred votes in Gorton at the 2010 federal election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Gorton at the 2010 federal election.
Greens primary votes in Gorton at the 2010 federal election.
Greens primary votes in Gorton at the 2010 federal election.

8 COMMENTS

  1. The old Burke was around 5% after 2001 from memory. Given the hit Labor copped in outer suburban Melbourne in 2004, the Liberals might have been a chance there if not for the redistribution…..

  2. Burke boundaries moved around at first it went close to Bendigo I think 1990 redistribution made it more of an outer suburban Melbourne seat which helped Labor hold it in that bad year. I think Bill Landeryou father of vexnews was offered it in 1984 but held out unsucessfully for Calwell thinking Burke too marginal. As a Hawke mate Bill would have been a federal minister

  3. Old Burke included Bacchus Marsh and Sunbury when they were basically semi-rural areas. There’s been a big demographic change here over the past decade.

  8. MDMC, I suspect so, mostly due to Melton being added to the electorate, which had big swings to Labor in 2010 due to having a sitting PM. Without that, it will likely correct to a more usual margin, though Labor should still win every booth.

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