Rosevears – Tasmania LC 2014

Incumbent MLC
Kerry Finch, since 2002.

Geography
Northern Tasmania. Rosevears covers the northeastern corner of Launceston, stretching along the eastern shore of the Tamar River to the north coast of Tasmania. Rosevears covers the entirety of the West Tamar council area, and a small part of the city of Launceston.

Rosevears' current and previous boundaries. 1999-2008 boundaries shown as red line, 2009-2013 boundaries shown as white area. Click to enlarge.
Rosevears’ current and previous boundaries. 1999-2008 boundaries shown as red line, 2009-2013 boundaries shown as white area. Click to enlarge.

Redistribution
Rosevears gained the remainder of West Tamar council, around Frankford, from Rowallan. No other changes were made.

History
The seat of Rosevears has existed since the 1999 redistribution, when it replaced the seat of Cornwall.

Cornwall was won by Ray Bailey in 1990, and he was re-elected in 1996. When the redistribution was implemented, Bailey became the Member for Rosevears, but retired when Rosevears first came up for election in 2002.

Rosevears was won in 2002 by Kerry Finch, who was re-elected in 2008.

Candidates

  • Kerry Finch
  • Don Morris (Liberal)

Assessment
Sitting MLC Kerry Finch is seen to be in the left-wing of the Legislative Council, and is under threat from a Liberal candidate.

Sitting independents are usually in a strong position in Legislative Council elections, but Finch didn’t face opposition from a major party in 2008, so it is hard to predict the result.

2008 result

Candidate Party Votes %
Kerry Finch IND 12,990 72.66
Colin O’Brien IND 4,889 27.34
Polling places in Rosevears at the 2008 Legislative Council election. Central in green, North in blue, South in orange. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Rosevears at the 2008 Legislative Council election. Central in green, North in blue, South in orange. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Rosevears have been split into three areas: south, central and north.

The southern areas largely covers areas on the northeastern fringe of Launceston, and makes up a majority of ordinary votes cast in Rosevears in 2008.

Kerry Finch won a large majority in all three areas, ranging from 70.8% in the north to 73.1% in the south.

Voter group Finch % O’Brien % Total votes % of votes
South 73.06 26.94 8,500 47.54
Central 72.68 27.32 3,855 21.56
North 70.83 29.17 2,177 12.18
Other votes 72.78 27.22 3,347 18.72
Primary votes for independent MLC Kerry Finch in Rosevears at the 2008 Legislative Council election.
Primary votes for independent MLC Kerry Finch in Rosevears at the 2008 Legislative Council election.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Note that the Liberals are running Don Morris against Finch. It is unusual for the Liberals to run against a sitting independent and they used to claim to have a policy of not doing so. Now they are claiming Finch is not compliant with Liberal policy (ie he is a leftie) as a basis for running against him.

    The election of a Liberal majority government should do wonders for Finch’s re-election prospects. This could be an interesting seat.

  3. Can anyone tell me how do I vote if I am out of the country? When will voters be notified as I leave April 3rd until May 5th? Thanks.

Comments are closed.