Division of Swan

Swan Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Swan in Western Australia, as of the 2021 redistribution.
Created	1901
MP	Steve Irons
Party	Liberal
Namesake	Swan River
Electors	100,781 (2019)
Area	134 km2 (51.7 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Swan is an Australian electoral division located in Western Australia.

History[]

Swan River, the division's namesake

The division is named after the Swan River. For several decades, it has been a marginal seat, extending along the Swan and Canning Rivers from the affluent suburbs in the City of South Perth to the west, which typically vote for the Liberal Party, to the City of Belmont to the east and parts of the City of Canning to the south-east, which are more working-class in orientation and typically vote for the Labor Party. A redistribution ahead of the 2010 election added the strongly Labor-voting suburb of Langford, which was previously within Tangney, which made it a notionally Labor seat. Langford was redistributed to Burt in 2016.

The division was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. Historically, the electorate was a country seat extending north to Dongara, east to Merredin and south to the coast. It contracted to an area east of the Darling Range and became a safe Country Party seat. Prior to the 1949 election, its old area became the new seat of Moore, while Swan moved into approximately its present position, although initially extending as far north-east as Midland.

From 2004 to 2007 it was the third most marginal electorate in Australia, after Hindmarsh and Kingston, with the ALP incumbent Kim Wilkie winning 50.08 percent of the two-party-preferred vote in 2004.

At the 2007 election, Liberal candidate Steve Irons won the seat with a swing of 0.19 percent.^[1] Irons was the only Coalition challenger to unseat a Labor incumbent at the 2007 election. However, the election came at a very bad time for the state Labor government, which was only polling at 49 percent support at the time the writs were dropped. Irons was re-elected with a slightly increased majority in 2010, making it a fairly safe Liberal seat. Following the 2016 election Labor candidate Tammy Solonec managed to return Swan to marginal status.

Steve Irons retained the seat in the 2019 election.^[2] Hannah Beazley contested the seat for Labor but ultimately conceded defeat.^[2]

Geography[]

Swan is bordered by Swan River in the north and west, Canning River and City of Canning in the south, and Roe Highway, Great Eastern Highway and Perth Airport in the east. Suburbs include:^[3]

In August 2021, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced that Swan would lose the suburb of Wilson to the seat of Tangney and gain the suburbs of Maida Vale and Wattle Grove and the remainder of Forrestfield and High Wycombe from the seat of Hasluck. These boundary changes will take place as of the next Australian federal election.^[4]

Members[]

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Sir John Forrest (1847–1918)	Protectionist	29 March 1901 – 1906	Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Bunbury. Served as minister under Barton, Deakin, Cook and Hughes. Died in office
			Western Australian	1906 – 26 May 1909
			Commonwealth Liberal	26 May 1909 – 17 February 1917
			Nationalist	17 February 1917 – 2 September 1918
		Edwin Corboy (1896–1950)	Labor	26 October 1918 – 13 December 1919	Lost seat. Later elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Yilgarn in 1921
		John Prowse (1871–1944)	Farmers and Settlers' Association	13 December 1919 – 24 February 1920	Transferred to the Division of Forrest
			Country	24 February 1920 – 16 December 1922
		Henry Gregory (1860–1940)	Country	16 December 1922 – 15 November 1940	Previously held the Division of Dampier. Died in office
		Thomas Marwick (1895–1960)	Country	21 December 1940 – 21 August 1943	Previously a member of the Senate. Lost seat
		Don Mountjoy (1906–1988)	Labor	21 August 1943 – 28 September 1946	Lost seat
		Len Hamilton (1899–1987)	Country	28 September 1946 – 10 December 1949	Transferred to the Division of Canning
		Bill Grayden (1920–)	Liberal	10 December 1949 – 29 May 1954	Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Middle Swan. Lost seat. Later elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of South Perth in 1956. Currently the oldest living former member of the House of Representatives
		Harry Webb (1908–2000)	Labor	29 May 1954 – 10 December 1955	Transferred to the Division of Stirling
		Richard Cleaver (1917–2006)	Liberal	10 December 1955 – 25 October 1969	Lost seat
		Adrian Bennett (1933–2006)	Labor	25 October 1969 – 13 December 1975	Lost seat
		John Martyr (1932–2021)	Liberal	13 December 1975 – 18 October 1980	Lost seat. Later appointed to the Senate in 1981
		Kim Beazley (1948–)	Labor	18 October 1980 – 2 March 1996	Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Served as Deputy Prime Minister under Keating. Transferred to the Division of Brand
		Don Randall (1953–2015)	Liberal	2 March 1996 – 3 October 1998	Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Canning in 2001
		Kim Wilkie (1959–)	Labor	3 October 1998 – 24 November 2007	Lost seat
		Steve Irons (1958–)	Liberal	24 November 2007 – present	Incumbent

Election results[]

References[]

External links[]

• Division of Swan - Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 31°59′10″S 115°55′16″E / 31.986°S 115.921°E / -31.986; 115.921