Division of Tangney

Tangney Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Tangney in Western Australia, as of the 2021 redistribution.
Created	1974
MP	Ben Morton
Party	Liberal Party of Australia
Namesake	Dame Dorothy Tangney
Electors	94,353 (2019)
Area	83 km2 (32.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Tangney is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. The Division was named after Dame Dorothy Tangney, the first female member of the Australian Senate, and is at present a safe Liberal seat. It is currently held by Ben Morton, a former state director of the Liberal Party.

Dennis Jensen lost Liberal preselection in Tangney for the 2016 election.^[1] Jensen ran against the endorsed Liberal candidate Ben Morton and lost.

History[]

Dame Dorothy Tangney, the division's namesake

Tangney was established at the Western Australia redistribution of 19 April 1974 and was first contested at the 1974 election. Until the 1984 redistribution, the seat included a much wider area including the traditional Labor areas of Spearwood and Gosnells, and the seat was a bellwether seat represented by the party of government. In 1984, the seat was confined to its present borders and has been held by the Liberal Party ever since.

It was first held by John Dawkins, later a Treasurer of Australia (as Member for Fremantle), and was held from 1993 until 2004 by Daryl Williams, former Attorney-General of Australia and Rhodes Scholar.^[2]

The seat briefly made national headlines in August 2006 when Matt Brown, once a chief-of-staff to former Defence Minister Robert Hill, defeated incumbent MP Dr Dennis Jensen for preselection, despite support for the latter from John Howard. However, on 7 October 2006, the decision was overturned by the Liberals' Western Australian state council and Jensen was once again confirmed as the candidate for the 2007 election.^[3]

Jensen lost Liberal preselection in Tangney for the 2016 federal election. Announced on 3 April 2016, it was revealed he had written an unpublished book that included graphic sex scenes, titled The Skywarriors (released as an eBook on Amazon 12 April 2016).^{[citation needed]} Jensen labelled it "dirty tricks" and an "absolute smear campaign". Former party state director Ben Morton won preselection. On 2 July 2016 Ben Morton won the Tangney seat with 61.5% of the vote, losing 1.5% towards the Labor Party.

Geography[]

The seat presently contains most of the City of Melville, a part of the City of Canning and a small portion of the City of Cockburn and is located south of the Swan and Canning rivers. Suburbs presently included are:^[4]

Members[]

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		John Dawkins (1947–)	Labor	18 May 1974 – 13 December 1975	Lost seat. Later elected to the Division of Fremantle in 1977
		Peter Richardson (1939–)	Liberal	13 December 1975 – 13 October 1977	Did not contest in 1977. Failed to win a Senate seat
			Progress	13 October 1977 – 10 November 1977
		Peter Shack (1953–)	Liberal	10 November 1977 – 5 March 1983	Lost seat
		George Gear (1947–)	Labor	5 March 1983 – 1 December 1984	Transferred to the Division of Canning
		Peter Shack (1953–)	Liberal	1 December 1984 – 8 February 1993	Retired
		Daryl Williams (1942–)	Liberal	13 March 1993 – 31 August 2004	Served as minister under Howard. Retired
		Dennis Jensen (1962–)	Liberal	9 October 2004 – 9 May 2016	Lost preselection and then lost seat
			Independent	9 May 2016 – 2 July 2016
		Ben Morton (1981–)	Liberal	2 July 2016 – present	Incumbent

Election results[]

References[]

External links[]

• Division of Tangney - Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 32°03′11″S 115°52′08″E / 32.053°S 115.869°E / -32.053; 115.869