Rumney – Tasmania LC 2017

Incumbent MLC
Tony Mulder (independent), since 2011.

Geography
South-eastern corner of Tasmania. Rumney covers those areas to the east of Hobart, including the Tasman and Forestier peninsulas, as well as the outer Hobart suburbs of Lauderdale, Cambridge, Sorell, Rokeby and Richmond.

History
The seat of Rumney was first created in 1999, and was won that year by Labor candidate Lin Thorp.

Thorp was re-elected in 2005 and went on to serve as a minister in the Labor government from 2008 until 2011.

Thorp was defeated in 2011 by conservative independent Tony Mulder. Mulder won by a 1278-vote margin. Thorp was later appointed to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate in 2012. She lost her seat at the 2013 election, and left the Senate in mid-2014 after two years in office.

Tony Mulder sits as an independent in the Legislative Council but has links to the Liberal Party, having stood for the party at the 2010 state election.

Candidates

• Cheryl Arnol (Shooters and Fishers)
• Sarah Lovell (Labor)
• Steve Mav
• Tony Mulder
• Shelley Shay
• Debra Thurley

Assessment
Rumney was held by a Labor MLC prior to the 2011 election, and the results of that election suggest the seat has the potential to flip between left and right. Labor is running in the seat again, and are likely to be Mulder’s main rival.

2011 result

2011 two-candidate-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Polling places in Rumney have been split into three parts. Polling places on the Tasman peninsula have been grouped as “peninsula” while the vast majority of voters on the Tasmanian mainland have been split into north and west.

Labor candidate Lin Thorp had a vote ranging from 30.5% in the west to 45.4% on the peninsula. Independent candidate Tony Mulder’s vote ranged from 23.8% on the peninsula to 29.1% in the west.

Fellow independent Paul Mason had a vote ranging from 9% on the peninsula to 16% in the west, while the Greens’ Penelope Ann had a vote ranging from 11.9% in the north to 14.2% on the peninsula.

Election results in Rumney at the 2011 Legislative Council election.
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between primary votes for Labor candidate Lin Thorp, independent candidate Tony Mulder and independent candidate Paul Mason.