ALP 7.9%
Incumbent MP
David Michael, since 2017.
Geography
Northern Perth. Balcatta covers central parts of the City of Stirling, including the suburbs of Balcatta, Joondanna, Osborne Park, Stirling, Tuart Hill and Hamersley.
Redistribution
Balcatta lost Hamersley to Kingsley and gained Westminster from Mirrabooka. These changes increased the Labor margin from 5.8% to 7.9%.
History
The current seat of Balcatta was created in 2005, but previously existed for three periods between 1904 and 1996. Its most famous member was Brian Burke.
When Balcatta was created in 2005, it partly replaced the abolished seat of Nollamara. Nollamara had been held by the ALP’s John Kobelke since 1989.
Kobelke served as a parliamentary secretary in the Lawrence government and served on the frontbench when the ALP was in opposition in the 1990s. He served as a minister from 2001 to 2005.
Kobelke’s 9.2% margin was slashed to 2.3% in 2008, with the ALP suffering a swing of almost 10% on primary votes.
John Kobelke retired in 2013, and the Liberal Party’s Chris Hatton won the seat thanks to a swing of almost 10%.
Hatton only served one term, losing in 2017 to Labor’s David Michael off a swing of almost 13%.
Candidates
- Damian Coletta (Liberal Democrats)
- Wayne Evans (Liberal)
- Domenic Staltari (Waxit)
- Benedict Guinery (Greens)
- David Michael (Labor)
- Daniel Robert Thornton (No Mandatory Vaccination)
- Rose Anderson (Australian Christians)
Assessment
Balcatta has a history of being marginal and changing hands, but quite a few other Labor seats are more likely to flip in 2021 than this seat.
2017 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| David Michael | Labor | 10,265 | 44.2 | +8.6 | 46.5 |
| Chris Hatton | Liberal | 8,885 | 38.3 | -13.3 | 36.3 |
| Nicole Harvey | Greens | 2,508 | 10.8 | +2.6 | 10.3 |
| Keith McEncroe | Australian Christians | 749 | 3.2 | +1.6 | 3.2 |
| Mile Nasteski | Micro Business | 544 | 2.3 | +2.3 | 2.3 |
| Richard Tait | Liberal Democrats | 252 | 1.1 | +1.1 | 0.9 |
| 0.5 | |||||
| Informal | 1,426 | 5.8 |
2017 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| David Michael | Labor | 12,950 | 55.8 | +12.9 | 57.9 |
| Chris Hatton | Liberal | 10,247 | 44.2 | -12.9 | 42.1 |
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three parts: north-east, north-west and south.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 52.5% in the north-west to 61.4% in the north-east.
The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 6.8% in the north-west to 13.7% in the south.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 13.7 | 58.1 | 6,251 | 27.2 |
| North-East | 7.8 | 61.4 | 5,492 | 23.9 |
| North-West | 6.8 | 52.5 | 3,242 | 14.1 |
| Other votes | 11.4 | 57.5 | 5,168 | 22.5 |
| Pre-poll | 9.7 | 57.4 | 2,850 | 12.4 |
Election results in Balcatta at the 2017 WA state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and Greens primary votes.
On these boundaries, the Liberals won’t win this back until their next landslide.
Despite its Labor history, Balcatta looks to be very much a swing seat these days. The addition of Wesminster helps the Labor position, but it still only sits at near the median point of the pendulum. Though unlikely to be competitive this time, Balcatta will probably be crucial in future elections.
Balcatta still doesn’t swing as much as Wanneroo, Landsdale, Southern River to name three.
I am from Westminster, and I was a big fan of Janine Freeman. It sucks that they have moved us to Balcatta as I believe our suburb is more closely aligned with Mirrabooka. I actually found out about the change when I startled David Michael as he placed a flyer on my door step. He just walked off quickly, so maybe I am intimidating haha!