Bendigo East – Victoria 2010

ALP 5.4%

Incumbent MP
Jacinta Allan, since 1999.

Geography
Northwestern Victoria. This seat covers eastern parts of Bendigo and areas to the north and east of Bendigo. The seat covers a majority of the City of Greater Bendigo and part of Loddon Shire. A majority of the seat’s population lives in the Bendigo urban area.

History
Bendigo East has existed for two different periods: from 1904-1927, and since 1985.

The original seat was first won by an unaligned MP, but was held by the ALP from 1907 to 1927.

The new seat was won in 1985 by Michael John of the Liberal Party. He served on the Liberal frontbench from 1988, and served in the ministry for the Kennett government’s first term from 1992-1996.

In 1999, John was defeated by 25-year-old Jacinta Allan of the ALP. Allan joined the Bracks ministry in 2002, and still serves as a state government minister today.

Candidates

Political situation
Bendigo East is the sort of seat that could be vulnerable if the Liberal Party does particularly well.

2006 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Jacinta Allan ALP 16,038 46.88 -9.55
Kevin Gibbons LIB 11,809 34.52 +6.60
John Bardsley GRN 2,464 7.20 +0.54
John Manning NAT 2,193 6.41 -2.57
Gail Hardy FF 1,486 4.34 +4.34
Colin James PP 224 0.65 +0.65

2006 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Jacinta Allan ALP 19,009 55.39 -7.57
Kevin Gibbons LIB 15,309 44.61 +7.57

Booth breakdown
Polling booths in Bendigo East have been split into three areas. Booths in urban Bendigo have been grouped, while those in the rural parts of the seat have been split into south and north. The ALP won a majority in Bendigo and the south, while the Liberal Party won in the north.

 

Polling booths in Bendigo East at the 2006 state ellection. Bendigo in yellow, South in green, North in blue.

 

Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Bendigo 7.38 57.23 17,111 49.83
South 7.95 55.12 5,568 16.21
North 3.83 47.42 4,116 11.99
Other votes 8.09 55.59 7,545 21.97
Two-party-preferred votes in Bendigo East at the 2006 state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in the urban part of Bendigo East at the 2006 state election.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Bendigo East is always more Liberal friendly than Bendigo West. The eastern suburbs such as Strathdale and Flora Hill are some of the more affluent Liberal voting parts of Bendigo, plus the rural areas to the north are still pretty “rural” and conservative. Those safe Labor booths in north-west Bendigo itself (around Eaglehawk) are more in character with Bendigo West, which contains most of the run-down and public housing parts of Bendigo.

  2. The swing with the Greens candidate was a positive one not a negative one.
    2002 6.66%—2006 7.2%. Federal results showed about a 4.5% swing to the Greens, some quite gentrified /student types here,. Local ALP candidates not doing well, however the Libs candidate is travelling poorly, very average local campaign manager, not respected, Upper house candidates for the libs are split, Lovell backing the East candidate the other backing Bendigo West, almost open warfare with old stager called in to mediate FFS.

  3. When I did the map for Bendigo (federal) I included the Spring Gully, Strathfieldsaye, Big Hill and Epsom booths in with the urban Bendigo booths, whilst Ben has placed them with the rural booths here. Not sure which makes more sense, but the placement of the first two in ‘south’ does make a major difference to the figures here.

    Isn’t Strathfieldsaye an area that should be better for the Liberals as well? I have been to Bendigo, but it was a while ago so my memory of the area has faded a bit. Anyone?

    Oh, and I think you’ll find the Liberal candidate in 2006 was Kevin Gibbins, not to be confused with the local federal MP Steve Gibbons, whom he challenged at the 2004 election, in a contest I seem to recall one media outlet dubbing ‘the battle of the Apes’.

  4. Spring Gully and Epsom were seperate towns but are now effectively part of urban Bendigo. Strathfieldsaye’s about 10-15km further out and is a seperate town. As for the Liberal margin, possibly it’s seeing an influx of commuters or ex-urbanites, or possibly it just reflects the Liberals’ poor performances in the area recently. By “Big Hill” I’m assuming they mean the rural/semi-rural territory on the run in to Bendigo before you reach Kangaroo Flat…. I’d class that as rural rather than part of Bendigo.

  5. Thanks. Yes, the ‘Big Hill’ booth is that one that says ‘50.8’ to the ALP south of Kangaroo Flat along the Calder Hwy.

  10. Candidates in ballot paper order are:

    Rod Leunig – Country Alliance
    Jacinta Allan – Labor
    Gary Hillier – Sex Party
    Ben Veitz – Christian Party
    Michael Langdon – Liberal
    Belinda Guerra – Family First
    Tim Bardsley – Greens
    James Stewart – DLP
    Peter Schwarz – Nationals

    Note Mr Veitz’s party is named ‘Christian Party’ on the VEC site. Is that the name the CDP are registered under in Victoria?

  11. ALP hold, good firewall bulit here by Labor’s campaign, so one of the seat that will stay reasonably firm

Comments are closed.