LIB 0.1%
Incumbent MP
Sharon Knight (ALP), Member for Ballarat West since 2010.
Geography
Wendouree covers the western suburbs of Ballarat, including Wendouree, Brown Hill, Delacombe, Alfredton and Redan. The seat lies entirely within the City of Ballarat.
Redistribution
Wendouree is a new name for the former electorate of Ballarat West. The former electorate lost Sebastapol and gained a larger portion of central Ballarat. These changes shifted the 1.1% Labor margin to a 0.1% Liberal margin.
History
While Wendouree is a new electorate, the seat covers the same area as Ballarat West, which had a long history as a Victorian state electorate.
Ballarat West first existed as an electoral district from 1859 to 1927, and again since 1992. The original district elected two members from 1859 until 1904, when it became a single-member district. Conservative parliamentarian Matthew Baird held the seat from 1911 to 1927.
The new Ballarat West was created at the 1992 election, and was won by the Liberal Party’s Paul Jenkins. He was re-elected in 1996, but retired in 1999, and the seat was lost to the ALP’s Karen Overington. Overington was re-elected in 2002 and 2006. She increased her margin to 9% in 2002, before it fell to 6.5% in 2006.
Overington retired in 2010, and Ballarat West was won by Labor’s Sharon Knight.
In 2014, Ballarat West will be abolished and replaced by Wendouree.
Candidates
- Liam Hastie (Sex Party)
- Sharon Knight (Labor)
- Sheila O’Shea (Rise Up Australia)
- Cielo Fenn (Family First)
- Craig Coltman (Liberal)
- Alice Barnes (Greens)
- John Buchholz (Country Alliance)
Assessment
Wendouree is a very marginal electorate.
In 2010, Labor was deprived of the benefit of an incumbent MP’s personal vote due to the retirement of Karen Overington. This time around, Sharon Knight should benefit from a new personal vote, which combined with statewide swing to Labor should make her the favourite to win the seat in a very close trace.
2010 election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Craig Coltman | Liberal | 17,230 | 43.60 | +5.66 | 44.71 |
| Sharon Knight | Labor | 16,446 | 41.62 | -5.49 | 40.11 |
| Leon Dwyer | Greens | 3,876 | 9.81 | -0.08 | 10.56 |
| Dale Butterfield | Family First | 1,284 | 3.25 | -1.78 | 3.12 |
| Carl Wesley | Country Alliance | 681 | 1.72 | +1.72 | 1.51 |
2010 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Sharon Knight | Labor | 20,175 | 51.05 | -5.55 | 49.90 |
| Craig Coltman | Liberal | 19,342 | 48.95 | +5.55 | 50.10 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Wendouree have been divided into three areas. Polling places in the centre of the electorate, closest to the Ballarat city centre, have been grouped as “Central”, with the remainder split into “North” and “South”. A majority of ordinary votes were cast in the ‘north’ area.
The Liberal Party won slim majorities of the two-party-preferred vote in the South (51.95%) and Central (50.39%), while Labor won a larger 52.46% majority in the north, which makes up a larger part of the electorate.
The Greens vote ranged from 8.1% in the south to 15.02% in Central.
| Voter group | GRN % | LIB 2PP % | Total | % of votes |
| North | 9.72 | 47.54 | 11,844 | 34.45 |
| South | 8.06 | 51.95 | 5,544 | 16.13 |
| Central | 15.02 | 50.39 | 5,412 | 15.74 |
| Other votes | 10.52 | 51.70 | 11,581 | 33.68 |
Libs have local mayor running for LegCo at No 2 seems a wasted opportunity not to have him run here or in Buninyong.
ALP retain. Knight has entrenched herself well. Plus it’s the same Knight-Coltman contest as last time – who’ll vote for Coltman who didn’t vote for him last time?
Agree with Rupert, Knight should get over the line here even with a tiny notional Liberal margin.
With Knight’s sophomore surge she should be favoured here. Could go either way though.