Benambra – Victoria 2014

LIB 15.9%

Incumbent MP
Bill Tilley, since 2006.

Geography
Northeastern Victoria. Benambra covers the City of Wodonga and surrounding regional areas, including the towns of Chiltern, Rutherglen, Mt Beauty, Yackandandah, Beechworth, Tallangatta, and Corryong.

Map of Benambra's 2010 and 2014 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2014 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of Benambra’s 2010 and 2014 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2014 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Redistribution
Benambra gained Mt Beauty and Falls Creek from Benalla, and Rutherglen from Murray Valley, and lost areas around Myrtleford to Ovens Valley. These changes cut the Liberal margin from 16.5% to 15.9%.

History
Benambra has existed as an electoral district since 1877. In that time, the seat has always been held by non-Labor parties. The Country Party held the seat from 1932 to 1976, and the Liberal Party has held it since 1976.

The seat was a contest between the old liberal and conservative parties from 1877 to 1889, when Albert Craven of the conservative party won the seat. He ended up holding the seat until 1913 and joining the official Liberal Party.

In 1913, Benambra was won by Liberal John Leckie. He won the federal seat of Indi as a Nationalist in 1917, leaving Benambra. He held Indi for only one term, but he later served as a Senator for Victoria from 1934 to 1947, serving as a federal minister from 1940 to 1941.

Benambra was won in 1917 by Henry Beardmore, a conservative member who held it for the Nationalists and the United Australia Party until his death in 1932.

The Country Party’s James Paton won the seat at the ensuing by-election, and held it until his death in 1947. He was succeeded by Thomas Mitchell, also of the Country Party. Mitchell served as Attorney-General in the state government from 1950 to 1952, and held the seat until 1976.

Upon Mitchell’s retirement in 1976, the Liberal Party’s Lou Lieberman won the seat. He served as a minister in the state government from 1979 to 1982, and held Benambra until 1992. In 1993 he was elected to the federal seat of Indi, which he held until 2001.

Benambra was held from 1992 to 2006 by Tony Plowman. In 2006, he was succeeded by Bill Tilley. Bill Tilley was re-elected in 2010, and served as Parliamentary Secretary for Police from 2010 to 2011.

Candidates

  1. Jennifer Podesta (Labor)
  2. Bill Tilley (Liberal)
  3. Phil Rourke (Country Alliance)
  4. Dick Wellard (Greens)

Assessment
Benambra is a very safe Liberal seat.

2010 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Bill Tilley Liberal 18,424 55.86 +17.24 50.83
John Williams Labor 7,537 22.85 -10.12 23.63
Jennifer O’Connor Greens 3,658 11.09 +4.38 10.86
Haden Macaulay Country Alliance 2,241 6.79 +6.79 6.95
Robert Cavedon Family First 1,125 3.41 +0.73 3.20
Nationals 4.28
Other independents 0.25

2010 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Bill Tilley Liberal 21,909 66.48 +8.77 65.87
John Williams Labor 11,045 33.52 -8.77 34.13
Polling places in Benambra at the 2010 Victorian state election. Alpine in green, Indigo in yellow, Towong in red, Wodonga in blue. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Benambra at the 2010 Victorian state election. Alpine in green, Indigo in yellow, Towong in red, Wodonga in blue. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Benambra have been divided into four areas, along local government boundaries. The four local councils in the electorate are Wodonga, Indigo, Towong and Alpine.

Towong and Alpine contain small parts of the electorate’s population, while Wodonga makes up almost 50% of the population.

The Liberal Party won large majorities of the two-party-preferred vote in all four areas, ranging from 61.7% in Indigo to 74.8% in Towong.

The Greens polled quite strongly in Benambra, with a vote ranging from 7.1% in Towong to 14.5% in Indigo.

Voter group GRN % LIB 2PP % Total % of votes
Wodonga 10.38 65.84 11,686 31.49
Indigo 14.54 61.74 7,605 20.49
Towong 7.10 74.79 2,957 7.97
Alpine 12.01 65.15 1,474 3.97
Other votes 10.02 66.29 13,385 36.07
Two-party-preferred votes in Benambra at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Benambra at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Greens primary votes in Benambra at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Greens primary votes in Benambra at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Wodonga at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Wodonga at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Greens primary votes in Wodonga at the 2010 Victorian state election.
Greens primary votes in Wodonga at the 2010 Victorian state election.

6 COMMENTS

  2. Well spotted. According to Antony Green, ‘Benambra has existed since 1877’, but I wouldn’t think that is enough reason to continue an electorate under its name when it doesn’t cover that region anymore (though Richmond in NSW is a case in point).

    I can’t think why else it would retain its name.

  3. It’s called Benambra because that’s the name of the County (Vic has 37) that it’s in. That also explains names like Evelyn, Mornington, Polwarth, Ripon & Rodney, all counties.

    PS Former member John Leckie was Menzies’ father in law. (Dame Pattie was Pattie Leckie).

  4. Benambra is also the name of a mountain near Lake Dartmouth, which is in the county (and still in the electorate). I don’t know which was named first, nor the ultimate origin of the name.

  5. I, Dick Wellard, am the endorsed Greens candidate for the seat of Benambra and have been for the last 3 weeks. I am wondering why I have not been listed as a candidate on this site

  6. Hi Dick, thanks for posting.

    I don’t really appreciate people demanding that I update this website according to your own schedule.

    I rely on various sources to tell me who is running, and when I last updated all of the candidate lists your name didn’t come up as someone running. I did check the Victorian Greens website for all of those seats where I didn’t have a candidate listed, and the Victorian Greens did not list you on their website, so you can blame them.

    I’m not going to do another update until nominations close, so your name will be up on the website then.

Comments are closed.