NAT 11.5% vs ALP
Incumbent MP
Brendon Grylls, since 2013. Previously Member for Merredin 2001-2008, Member for Central Wheatbelt 2008-2013.
Geography
Northern Western Australia. Pilbara covers East Pilbara, Port Hedland and Roebourne council areas.
The major centres are Port Hedland, Dampier and Roebourne.
While the seat stretches from the coast to the Northern Territory border, almost the entire population lies in the western half of the electorate.
Redistribution
No change.
History
Pilbara existed as a seat continuously from 1894 until 2005. For one term the seat was renamed as Central Kimberley-Pilbara before reverting to its original name in 2008. The seat has been dominated by the ALP for most of the twentieth century.
The ALP held Pilbara continuously from 1939 to 1974. Brian Sodeman won the seat as a Liberal in 1974, and held it until 1983.
In 1983, Pam Buchanan won the seat back for Labor. She moved to a new seat of Ashburton in 1989, and was replaced in Pilbara by Larry Graham.
Graham was re-elected in 1993 and 1996 for the ALP, but was defeated for preselection in 1999 and resigned to serve as an independent. He was re-elected as an independent with over 50% of the primary vote in 2001.
Graham retired in 2005, and the ALP’s Tom Stephens won the seat back.
In 2008, Stephens was re-elected with a smaller margin. Traditionally the conservative option in Pilbara was the Liberal Party, but in 2008 the Nationals ran and outpolled the Liberal Party.
Stephens stepped down in 2013, and Nationals leader Brendon Grylls ran for the seat and was elected. Grylls had previously represented the seats of Merredin and Central Wheatbelt since 2001, before moving north to Pilbara. Grylls stepped down as leader later in 2013, but returned to the position in 2016.
Candidates
- Mark Alchin (Liberal)
- Fiona White-Hartig (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers)
- Kevin Michel (Labor)
- Brendon Grylls (Nationals)
- Brent Mckenna (Greens)
- David Archibald (One Nation)
- Mark Dunn (Flux)
- Davyd Hooper (Micro Business Party)
Assessment
The Nationals hold Pilbara by a sizeable 11.5% margin, but this is the result of a large swing in 2013. It is entirely possible that this margin may not be as safe as it appears, but Grylls is a strong candidate who is likely to win re-election.
2013 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Brendon Grylls | Nationals | 4,866 | 38.6 | +15.9 |
| Kelly Howlett | Labor | 3,758 | 29.8 | -13.5 |
| George Levissianos | Liberal | 2,911 | 23.1 | +3.7 |
| Julie Christine Matheson | Greens | 628 | 5.0 | -4.6 |
| Brent Mckenna | Independent | 267 | 2.1 | +2.1 |
| Bruce Richards | Australian Christians | 168 | 1.3 | +1.3 |
| Informal | 663 | 5.0 |
2013 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Brendon Grylls | Nationals | 7,739 | 61.5 | +18.7 |
| Kelly Howlett | Labor | 4,850 | 38.5 | -18.7 |
2013 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| George Levissianos | Liberal | 6,774 | 53.8 | |
| Kelly Howlett | Labor | 5,823 | 46.2 |
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three parts, along local government boundaries: East Pilbara, Port Hedland and Roebourne. The town of Roebourne makes up a majority of the seat’s population.
The Nationals won a majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote against Labor in all three areas, ranging from 53% in East Pilbara to 67.5% in Roebourne.
The Liberal Party came third with a vote ranging from 13.4% in Port Hedland to 28% in Roebourne.
| Voter group | LIB % | NAT 2CP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Roebourne | 28.1 | 67.5 | 5,058 | 40.1 |
| Port Hedland | 13.4 | 58.2 | 3,050 | 24.2 |
| East Pilbara | 20.3 | 53.3 | 1,205 | 9.6 |
| Pre-poll | 25.9 | 63.1 | 879 | 7.0 |
| Other votes | 25.2 | 56.4 | 2,406 | 19.1 |
Election results in Pilbara at the 2013 WA state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Nationals vs Labor) and Liberal primary votes.
The Chamber of Mines and Energy are already ramping up there campaign to fight the Nats on their proposed iron ore tax, claiming that it will destroy jobs. Will be interesting to see what impact this has in the Pilbara. A big change in the local economy since the last election so the result could be quite volatile here.
The Shire of Roebourne became the City of Karratha in 2014 as Karratha, not Roebourne, is the dominant population centre.
Slight corrections needed:
‘… almost the entire population lies in the eastern half of the electorate …’ (need to be corrected to WESTERN HALF)
The 2008 Election was won by a Labor candidate (Vince Catania – check spelling) who defected to The Nationals soon after that election
In the 2013 Election – Vince was moved to another seat held by the Nationals and Grylls contested the seat and won with Liberal Preferences
In this 11 March 2017 Election THE GREENS are running a candidate – BRENT MCKENNA – who ran as an Independent in 2013 http://greens.org.au/wa/brent-mckenna
Just thought it was worth mentioning these things
Thanks for the eastern/western typo correction, Brent, but you’re wrong about Catania. He represents a different seat.
I’ll add the extra candidate names closer to the election.
Actually Ben, when Catania won as an ALP candidate, his electorate was North West, which had the town of Karratha as it’s main center, and which is now the biggest population centre in the current Pilbara electorate. The moving of the biggest town in the North West of the state is a fairly big thing.
On a map it looks less so, but the removal of Karratha from NW* dramatically changes that electorate, and dramatically changes Pilbara. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if more than half of the current population of Pilbara were previously in North West (it wouldn’t be far off 50/50). You could say that the old Pilbara was abolished, the new Pilbara has superceded North West, and a new North West Central has been created.
Expectation seems to be that Nats will fare better v Labor but if 10%+ swing there will be surprises to counterbalance likely low swing in Collie Albany etc so are this & NW Coastal no chance for Labor?
Seat to watch on the night. Labor referencing Libs over Nats. Libs just announced a $800 million cut to Royalties for Regions. Expect collapsing Liberal vote. Nat primary will surely fall but Grylls likely to be safe as long as the Nat vote stays above the Libs.
With the news about the Greens candidate out this morning I don’t him going far at all. With the changes to Pilbara seat, Fiona White-Hartig could come out of the clouds as Philip Donato did and win, she is very well known and liked within the area.
Pilbara remains in doubt, but Labor has a healthy lead on the current count.
If the McGowan government ever requires Nationals votes in the upper house, only to be stymied by a more traditional Nat leader, Labor may come to view Pilbara as a pyrrhic victory.