Pilbara – WA 2025

ALP 18.5%

Incumbent MP
Kevin Michel, since 2017.

• Geography
• Redistribution
• History
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• 2021 results
• Booth breakdown
• Results maps

Geography
Northern Western Australia. Pilbara covers Port Hedland, Karratha, Ashburton and Exmouth council areas, as well as the western end of the East Pilbara council area.

The major centres are Port Hedland, Dampier, Roebourne and Exmouth.

Redistribution
Pilbara shifted west, losing part of the East Pilbara council area to Kimberley (although this area doesn’t contain many voters), and gaining the Ashburton and Exmouth council areas. While a large amount of territory was moved, almost 84% of voters in Pilbara were already in the seat prior to the redistribution.

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 with a massive swing. 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.

Grylls was defeated in 2017, with the swing to Labor reversing most of his gains from 2013, and stepped down as Nationals leader. He was replaced in Pilbara by Labor’s Kevin Michel. Michel was re-elected in 2021.

Candidates

• Kieran Dart (Nationals)
• Amanda Kailis (Liberal)
• Kevin Michel (Labor)

Assessment
Pilbara has not been in Labor hands for particularly long. If the conservative parties are coming back towards a competitive position, they would be hoping to pick up Pilbara.

2021 result

2021 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Polling places have been split into three parts. The two main urban centres are Roebourne and Port Hedland. The remainder has been grouped as “south”.

Labor’s two-party-preferred vote ranged from 66% in Roebourne to 71.9% in Port Hedland.

Election results in Pilbara at the 2021 WA state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Nationals, the Liberal Party and the Greens.

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