ALP 11.4%
Incumbent MP
Ali Kent, since 2021.
- Geography
- Redistribution
- History
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- 2021 results
- Booth breakdown
- Results maps
Geography
South-eastern Western Australia. Most of the seat’s population is contained in the Kalgoorlie urban area, while the seat also covers the Coolgardie, Dundas, Kalgoorlie/Boulder, Menzies, Laverton, Leonora and Ngaanyatjarraku council areas.
Redistribution
Kalgoorlie shifted north, taking in eastern parts of the abolished North West Central seat while losing a small area near Lake Barlee to the new seat of Mid West. Less than 1000 voters were transferred from North West Central, and just 10 voters transferred into Mid West.
History
Kalgoorlie has existed continuously as a seat since 1904, and in that time was dominated by Labor MPs. The seat was held by Labor continuously from 1923 to 2001.
In 2001, Labor MP Megan Anwyl was defeated by the Liberal Party’s Matt Birney.
Birney was re-elected in 2005, and became Liberal leader following the election. He only led the party for one year, before being challenged by Paul Omodei in 2006 and moving to the backbench.
Birney retired in 2008. A redistribution saw the seat of Murchison-Eyre merged into another seat, and the sitting MP for Murchison-Eyre, John Bowler, ran for Kalgoorlie as an independent. Bowler had been elected twice as a Labor member and served in Alan Carpenter’s cabinet but had since moved to the crossbenches.
At the 2008 election, the ALP dropped to fourth place behind a strong performance by Nationals’ candidate Tony Crook. Bowler came first on primary votes, and defeated Crook by 3.6% after preferences. Crook had only come third on primary votes but overtook the Liberal thanks to Labor preferences.
Bowler retired in 2013, and the seat was won by Nationals candidate Wendy Duncan.
Duncan retired in 2017, and the Nationals dropped to third place, with Liberal candidate Kyran O’Donnell winning.
O’Donnell lost in 2021, with Labor’s Ali Kent managing to win with a majority of the primary vote.
Assessment
Kalgoorlie is one of a number of Labor-held seats that would normally be expected to go to a conservative party, and Labor does not need to hold this seat to retain government. A return to a more balanced election result should see Labor lose this seat to either Liberal or Nationals.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Ali Kent | Labor | 7,782 | 52.7 | +26.6 | 52.1 |
| Kyran O’Donnell | Liberal | 3,695 | 25.0 | -3.0 | 24.5 |
| Rowena Olsen | Nationals | 1,608 | 10.9 | -13.5 | 12.0 |
| Patrick Redreau | One Nation | 494 | 3.3 | -8.8 | 3.3 |
| Jack Carmody | Shooters, Fishers & Farmers | 465 | 3.2 | -0.9 | 3.2 |
| Alex Wallace | Greens | 328 | 2.2 | -2.0 | 2.2 |
| Sam Rennie | Liberal Democrats | 217 | 1.5 | +1.5 | 1.4 |
| Enrico Piazza | No Mandatory Vaccination | 140 | 0.9 | +0.9 | 0.9 |
| Rustu Buyukcakar | WAxit | 31 | 0.2 | +0.2 | 0.2 |
| Others | 0.0 | ||||
| Informal | 591 | 3.8 |
2021 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Ali Kent | Labor | 9,152 | 62.0 | +18.2 | 61.4 |
| Kyran O’Donnell | Liberal | 5,601 | 38.0 | -18.2 | 38.6 |
Polling places have been split into four parts. Polling places in the Kalgoorlie urban area were split between north and south, and the remainder of the seat was also split between north and south.
Labor’s two-party-preferred vote ranged from 59.2% in the north to 68.5% in the south.
| Voter group | NAT prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Kalgoorlie South | 9.9 | 63.4 | 3,123 | 20.4 |
| Kalgoorlie North | 11.8 | 62.5 | 1,746 | 11.4 |
| South | 11.0 | 68.5 | 870 | 5.7 |
| North | 13.4 | 59.2 | 365 | 2.4 |
| Pre-poll | 12.7 | 60.5 | 7,071 | 46.3 |
| Other votes | 13.0 | 57.8 | 2,108 | 13.8 |
Election results in Kalgoorlie at the 2021 WA state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party, the Nationals and the Greens.
Surprisingly ex Liberal MP for this seat Kyran O Donnell has announced he is running as an independent this time around. He could poll well, similar to ex Labor MP John Bowler who won Kalgoorlie in 2008 as an independent, but whether he can attract preferences from Labor will determine if he can win over the Liberals or Nationals.
Also interesting is that the Nationals candidate from 2021 (Rowena Olsen) is running as the Liberal candidate for 2025.
@Yoh An why did Kyran O’Donnell quit the Liberals and why did Rowena Olsen quit the Nationals?
NP, I only read about this from a local site (Kalgoorlie Miner) so it might not be accurate.
@NP – I believe Kyran O’Donnell quit because despite his profile and standing within the state Liberals, from memory he was put in 19th out of 20th place on the Liberals Legislative Council Ticket. He may have quit in protest/squabbles with the party, though I may be wrong.
Yep O’Donnell was preselected to an unwinnable spot on the WA Liberal upper house ticket. Probably encouraged to run as an independent by the poor preselection result and the fact that he was reasonably successful in council elections (was successfully elected with 22.3% of the vote in last year’s LG elections, only about 1,401 votes but still decent performance in a crowded field of 16 candidates).
This could well shape up to be a four-way contest between Lab/Lib/Nat/O’Donnell.
labor will lose this seat to the combined Lib/Nat/O’Donnell vote. Liberal gain in my opinion
My prediction: A seat that hasn’t returned a sitting MP since 2005. I’m tipping that for the fifth election in a row, and the sixth overall since Labor lost grip of Kalgoorlie in 2001, there’ll be a new MP here. But who? Honestly, this’ll be the messiest contest in the state, but I’ll go for Kyran O’Donnell as an independent, he did do well in the last council elections.
Updating my prediction to National gain here – O’Donnell will probably poll best in Kalgoorlie itself, but not that well outside of the city.
Alp mp 5o become a twicer
Probably agree Anton, although O’Donnell as an independent candidate could benefit from Labor preferences and win from second place if Labor’s Ali King polls poorly and finishes in third or fourth place. Former Independent and ex Labor MP John Bowler received a strong flow of Labor preferences to win in 2008, but he also finished in first place ahead of both the Liberals and Nationals.
A National vs Independent 2CP pairing (Olsen vs O’Donnell) is probably the likely outcome, with Labor to finish in either third or fourth place.
Labor aren’t likely to miss the top two, with the right-wing vote splintered between Lib, Nat, O’Donnell, ON, Shooters and Christians. They could actually hold the seat on 40% or even less if some of those preferences leak.
Another thing this a country srat
Another thing this a country seat is that an mp if good can entrench themselves.
This election is unusual as it is known Labor will win. People look for a say in the govt rather than opposition.
Mick this is the ejector seat. No mp has won re-election since 2005. Nothing is certain but yes labor will likely win the govt. labor could not even make the 2pp/2cp. Labor should lose this seat to the libs as no one else will get close. If labor slip to third the libs will romp it home on labor and greens preferences. Lib gain.