Division of Brand

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Brand Australian House of Representatives Division
State or territory:	Western Australia
Created:	1984
MP:	Gary Gray
Party:	Labor
Namesake:	David Brand
Electors:	91,961
Area:	430 km² (166.0 sq mi)
Demographic:	Provincial

The Division of Brand is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. Eligible voters within the Division elect a single representative, known as the member for Brand, to the Australian House of Representatives. The Division was named after Sir David Brand, the Premier of Western Australia from 1959 to 1971, and is a safe Labor seat held by former ALP National Secretary Gary Gray since the 2007 federal election. Prior to this, former Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley held the seat from 1996 until his retirement from politics.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 3 Members 4 Election results

[edit] History

The seat was created in 1984 out of parts of Fremantle and Canning to cater for substantial population growth in the Rockingham–Mandurah coastal area south of the state capital, Perth, and was first contested at the 1984 federal election. Initially it included country areas to the south and southeast, such as agricultural regions in the Shires of Murray, Waroona and Harvey and the mining town of Collie, and was significantly more marginal for Labor—made abundantly clear by Labor's near-defeat in the seat in the 1996 federal election. A redistribution before the 1998 election saw the electorate of Brand become an entirely urban electorate, retreating north of the Peel Estuary to roughly its present borders, and the seat has been safe Labor ever since.

Brand has had only three members - two of whom had previously been sitting members in other seats. Wendy Fatin had been the member for Canning for a single term prior to the creation of Brand, and went on to win in four successive elections, becoming Minister for the Arts in the early 1990s. Upon her retirement from politics, Kim Beazley, who had been a minister for defence in the Hawke government until 1990 and had several portfolios before becoming Deputy Prime Minister in 1995, was preselected for the seat following 16 years as member for the marginal seat of Swan which polling suggested the party was certain to lose. At the 1996 election, Beazley won by just 387 votes against Liberal hopeful Penny Hearne, who was later to quit the party and run as an independent against Court minister Doug Shave in the 1996 state election for the seat of Alfred Cove.

[edit] Geography

The seat presently contains the Town of Kwinana, City of Rockingham and the northern section of the City of Mandurah including the city centre and areas north of the Peel Estuary. Suburbs presently included are:

Kwinana Bertram Calista Hope Valley Leda Medina Orelia Parmelia Wellard

Rockingham Baldivis Cooloongup East Rockingham Golden Bay Hillman Karnup Port Kennedy Rockingham

Safety Bay Secret Harbour Shoalwater Singleton Waikiki Warnbro

Mandurah Coodanup Dudley Park Greenfields Lakelands Madora Bay Mandurah Meadow Springs San Remo Silver Sands

[edit] Members

Member		Party	Term
	Wendy Fatin	Labor	1984—1996
	Kim Beazley	Labor	1996—2007
	Gary Gray	Labor	2007—present

[edit] Election results

Australian federal election, 2007: Brand
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Gary Gray	38,131	46.15	-0.94
	Liberal	Phil Edman	31,882	38.58	-1.31
	Greens	Jean Jenkins	7,110	8.60	+3.77
	Christian Democrats	Brent Tremain	2,061	2.49	+0.36
	Family First	Andrew Newhouse	1,482	1.79	+1.79
	One Nation	Robin Scott	1,321	1.60	-1.16
	Liberty and Democracy	Huw Grossmith	350	0.42	+0.42
	Citizens Electoral Council	Rob Totten	295	0.36	-0.64
Total formal votes			82,632	96.10	+1.90
Informal votes			3,354	3.90	-1.90
Turnout			85,986	93.50	+0.09
Two Candidate Preferred Result
	Labor	Gary Gray	45,959	55.62	+0.97
	Liberal	Phil Edman	36,673	44.38	-0.97
	Labor hold		Swing	+0.97

Australian federal election, 2004: Brand
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Kim Beazley	34,892	47.09	-4.62
	Liberal	Phil Edman	29,463	39.89	+15.92
	Greens	Jean Jenkins	3,578	4.83	+1.35
	One Nation	Garth Stockden	2,045	2.76	-3.38
	Christian Democrats	Rajesh Vettoor	1,581	2.13	+1.26
	Independent	Gerard Kettle	1,084	1.46	+1.46
	Citizens Electoral Council	Rob Totten	742	1.00	+0.77
	Democrats	John Partridge	619	0.84	-1.55
Total formal votes			74,104	94.20	-1.49
Informal votes			4,566	5.80	+1.49
Turnout			78,670	93.41	-1.79
Two Candidate Preferred Result
	Labor	Kim Beazley	40,499	54.65	-5.40
	Liberal	Phil Edman	33,605	45.35	+5.40
	Labor hold		Swing	-5.40

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