Gippsland East – Victoria 2018

NAT 17.9%

Incumbent MP
Tim Bull, since 2010.

Geography
Eastern Victoria. Gippsland East covers East Gippsland Shire and northern parts of Wellington Shire, covering the towns of Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, Orbost, Omeo, Maffra and Heyfield.

History
Gippsland East has existed as a single-member district in the Victorian Legislative Assembly continuously since 1889. In over 120 years, the seat has only been held by seven members.

The seat was first held by unaligned MP Henry Foster from 1889 to 1902. He served as Mining Minister from 1894 to 1899.

Foster died in 1902, and the by-election was won by James Cameron. He eventually joined the Liberal Party and then the Nationalist Party, and served as a minister from 1909 to 1913.

Cameron was defeated in 1920 by Farmers Union candidate Albert Lind. Lind eventually became a member of the Country Party, and served as a minister in a number of state governments from 1935 to 1952. He served as Deputy Premier from 1937 to 1943.

Lind retired in 1961, and was succeeded by the Country Party’s Bruce Evans. He served as Country Party deputy leader from 1964 to 1970, and retired from Parliament at the 1992 election.

David Treasure of the Nationals won Gippsland East in 1992. He was re-elected in 1996, but in a shock result in 1999 he was defeated by abalone diver Craig Ingram, who was an independent candidate. Ingram came third on primary votes, but overtook the ALP on One Nation preferences, and then won the seat on Labor preferences.

Ingram joined with two other independents in supporting a minority Labor government, sharing this balance of power from 1999 to 2002. Ingram’s primary vote increased from 24% to 41% in 2002, and he won comfortably with an 11.7% margin after preferences. He was re-elected in 2006 with a slightly reduced margin.

In 2010, Ingram lost to Nationals candidate Tim Bull with a swing of 20.5%. Bull was re-elected easily in 2014.

Candidates

• Sonia Buckley (Liberal Democrats)
• Matt Stephenson (Independent)
• Deb Foskey (Greens)
• Mark Reeves (Labor)
• Tim Bull (Nationals)
• Benjamin Garrett (Independent)
• George Neophytou (Independent)

Assessment
Gippsland East is a very safe Nationals seat.

2014 result

2014 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths in Gippsland East have been divided into three parts. Polling places in East Gippsland Shire have been split into East and Lakes, while those in Wellington Shire have been grouped together.

The Nationals won a large majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 66.2% in the east to 69.1% in the west.

Two-party-preferred votes in Gippsland East at the 2014 Victorian state election

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