Ovens Valley – Victoria 2022

NAT 12.1%

Incumbent MP
Tim McCurdy, since 2014. Previously member for Murray Valley 2010-2014.

• Geography
• Redistribution
• History
• Candidates
• Assessment
• 2018 result
• Booth breakdown
• Results maps

Geography
Northern Victoria. Ovens Valley covers the towns of Bright, Cobram, Glenrowan, Myrtleford, Wangaratta and Yarrawonga, and is centred on Wangaratta. The electorate covers the entirety of Wangaratta Shire and Alpine Shire as well as the eastern half of Moira Shire.

Redistribution
Ovens Valley gained the remainder of Alpine Shire from Benambra. These changes reduced the Nationals margin from 12.6% to 12.1%.

History
Ovens Valley was created in 2014 as a successor to the electorate of Murray Valley. Murray Valley was first created in 1945, and was always held by the Country/National Party, until it was renamed in 2014.

The seat was first won in 1945 by George Moss. He became leader of the Country Party in 1964, and served in that role until 1970. He retired from Murray Valley in 1973.

Murray Valley was won in 1973 by the National Party’s Bill Baxter. In 1976, a redistribution shifted Murray Valley’s boundaries, and he decided to contest the neighbouring seat of Benambra, where sitting National Thomas Mitchell was retiring after 29 years. Baxter topped the poll on primary votes but was defeated by the Liberal candidate.

Baxter then moved to the Legislative Council, winning a by-election for North Eastern Province in 1978. He held his seat until1984, when he resigned to run against the sitting Liberal MP for the overlapping federal seat of Indi, coming third on primary votes. He won back his Legislative Council seat at a 1985 by-election, and served until 2006, when his Legislative Council seat was abolished and he unsuccessfully attempted to win the Legislative Assembly seat of Benambra.

Murray Valley was won in 1976 by the National Party’s Ken Jasper. Jasper was re-elected in Murray Valley nine times, and retired in 2010.

Nationals MP Tim McCurdy won Murray Valley in 2010, and moved to Ovens Valley in 2014. He won a third term in 2018.

Candidates

• Tim McCurdy (Nationals)
• Mark Bugge (Freedom Party)
• Anna Wise (Family First)
• Zuvele Leschen (Labor)
• Aisha Slater (Animal Justice)
• Zoe Kromar (Greens)
• Julian Fidge (Liberal Democrats)

Assessment
Ovens Valley is a safe Nationals seat.

2018 result

2018 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into four areas: central, east, west and Wangaratta.

The Nationals won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all four areas, ranging from 58.4% in Wangaratta to 68.7% in the centre.

Election results in Ovens Valley at the 2018 Victorian state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Nationals, independent candidates and Labor.

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