ALP 25.8%
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
No change.
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%. Michael was re-elected with ease in 2021.
- Christopher Cole (Legalise Cannabis)
- Wesley D’Costa (Australian Christians)
- Travis Mark (Liberal)
- David Michael (Labor)
Assessment
Balcatta looks like a very safe Labor seat now, but that margin was achieved in the super-landslide of 2021. It’s worth remembering that the Liberal Party held the seat as recently as 2013. The seat ranks 25th in Labor seats by margin, so if Labor is losing here they are probably on track to lose power. It seems most likely that the ALP will hold on to this seat, but the margin will be much smaller.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| David Michael | Labor | 15,894 | 66.5 | +19.9 |
| Wayne Evans | Liberal | 4,497 | 18.8 | -17.3 |
| Benedict Guinery | Greens | 1,818 | 7.6 | -2.7 |
| Rose Anderson | Australian Christians | 504 | 2.1 | -1.1 |
| Damian Coletta | Liberal Democrats | 489 | 2.0 | +1.2 |
| Daniel Thornton | No Mandatory Vaccination | 453 | 1.9 | +1.9 |
| Domenic Staltari | WAxit | 238 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Informal | 1,222 | 4.9 |
2021 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| David Michael | Labor | 18,087 | 75.8 | +17.7 |
| Wayne Evans | Liberal | 5,790 | 24.2 | -17.7 |
Polling places have been split into three parts: north-east, north-west and south.
Labor’s two-party-preferred vote ranged from 70.6% in the north-west to 78.7% in the north-east.
| Voter group | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| South | 76.1 | 4,544 | 19.0 |
| North-West | 70.6 | 2,746 | 11.5 |
| North-East | 78.7 | 2,580 | 10.8 |
| Pre-poll | 75.9 | 7,541 | 31.6 |
| Other votes | 76.4 | 6,482 | 27.1 |
Election results in Balcatta at the 2021 WA state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.