ALP 5.1%
Incumbent MP
Josie Farrer, since 2013.
Geography
Far north Western Australia. Kimberley covers the Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, Halls Creek and Wyndham-East Kimberley council areas. The seat includes the northern centres of Broome and Derby.
Redistribution
No change.
History
Kimberley has existed as a seat since 1904. The seat has been dominated by the ALP for most of the twentieth century, but Kimberley has never been a very safe seat.
The ALP won the seat off the Country Party in 1924. Two successive Labor MPs held the seat for the next 44 years. In 1968, the Liberal Party’s Alan Ridge won the seat.
In 1980, the Labor Party’s Ernie Bridge was elected. Bridge became the first Aboriginal cabinet minister in Australia in 1986, and served in the ministry until Labor lost power in 1993.
In 1996, Bridge resigned from the ALP, and ran for re-election as an independent. The ALP chose to not run a candidate against him and he won one more term before retiring in 2001.
The ALP’s Carol Martin won the seat back for Labor in 2001. She was re-elected in 2005 and 2008.
Martin retired in 2013 and she was succeeded by Labor candidate Josie Farrer.
Candidates
- Kai Jones (Independent)
- Graham Chapman (Independent)
- Ryan Albrey (Flux)
- Liz Vaughan (Greens)
- Keith Wright (One Nation)
- Warren Greatorex (Liberal)
- Josie Farrer (Labor)
- Rob Houston (Nationals)
Assessment
Kimberley produced an unusual result in 2013, with Labor winning with barely over a quarter of the vote, and four parties polling over 18%. If Labor stays in the top two, they are likely to be re-elected, and it seems likely that the Labor vote will increase in line with statewide effects, and the effect of having a sitting member. But when the race was so close, we can’t rule out the possibility that a different pairing of two parties will make the top two, changing the race.
2013 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Josie Farrer | Labor | 3,030 | 26.7 | -14.6 |
| Jenny Bloom | Liberal | 2,924 | 25.7 | -0.3 |
| Chris Maher | Greens | 2,664 | 23.5 | +10.1 |
| Michele Pucci | Nationals | 2,085 | 18.4 | +0.1 |
| Rod Ogilvie | Independent | 499 | 4.4 | +4.4 |
| Craig Simons | Australian Christians | 158 | 1.4 | +1.4 |
| Informal | 595 | 5.0 |
2013 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Josie Farrer | Labor | 6,255 | 55.1 | -1.7 |
| Jenny Bloom | Liberal | 5,100 | 44.9 | +1.7 |
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three parts. Polling places in the town of Broome have been grouped, with the remaining booths split between north and south.
The Labor two-party-preferred vote against the Liberal Party ranged from only 43% in the north to 61% in the south.
The Greens came third, with over 38% of the primary vote in Broome, but with a much lower vote in rural areas. The Nationals came fourth, with 37% of the vote in the rural north.
| Voter group | NAT % | GRN % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Broome | 13.6 | 38.1 | 55.2 | 4,084 | 36.0 |
| North | 37.3 | 10.2 | 42.6 | 1,857 | 16.3 |
| South | 20.0 | 13.1 | 61.2 | 1,516 | 13.3 |
| Other votes | 11.8 | 16.5 | 61.8 | 3,063 | 27.0 |
| Pre-poll | 20.5 | 25.5 | 46.9 | 840 | 7.4 |
Election results in Kimberley at the 2013 WA state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-party-preferred votes, Greens primary votes sand Nationals primary vote.
Can’t see Labor losing here. Could be interesting as to who finishes second, as expected the Libs will take big hit, I suspect the Nats will struggle in the northern mining seats of Pilbara, Kimberley and even North West Central. And who knows how the Greens will go.
The even four-way split of the primary vote is most interesting. What makes Broome so strong for the Greens?
If I remember correctly there was a proposal to build a natural gas plant on the coast north of Broome, and the Greens were the only party to unequivocally oppose it. Would be somewhat surprised if their vote doesn’t decline this time around.
The Greens did quite well in Broome at the federal election, but nowhere near 38% (booths with Broome are high teens/low 20s). It will probably turn out to be a more conventional seat with Labor winning on Greens preferences.
Would social services policy be the issue that has significant impact in this electorate or is it more due to workers in the mining sector? Is One Nation fielding a candidate? I wonder if they will pick up some votes here.