Electoral district of Bentleigh

Bentleigh
Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Bentleigh; Victoria—Legislative Assembly
	Location of Bentleigh (dark green) in Greater Melbourne
State	Victoria
Created	1967
MP	Nick Staikos
Party	Labor
Electors	42,772 (2018)
Area	21 km2 (8.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Metropolitan
Coordinates	37°55′S 145°03′E / 37.917°S 145.050°ECoordinates: 37°55′S 145°03′E / 37.917°S 145.050°E

The electoral district of Bentleigh is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It covers an area of 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi) in southern Melbourne, including the suburbs of Bentleigh, Hampton East, McKinnon, and Moorabbin, and parts of Bentleigh East, Brighton East and Ormond. It also includes the Moorabbin campus of the Monash Medical Centre. It lies within the Southern Metropolitan Region of the upper house, the Legislative Council.^[1]

Bentleigh has usually been seen as a key marginal seat, lying at the 'point of the pendulum' needed to change government. It is considered a bellwether seat in Victoria, having elected a member of the governing party in all but two elections of its existence.

It was created in 1967 as a fairly safe Liberal seat during the height of the Victorian Liberals' popularity. It remained in Liberal hands until 1979 where the Liberals nearly lost their majority for the first time in just under three decades. For most of the time since then, it has been a marginal seat, and is part of the belt of marginal seats in eastern Melbourne that usually decide elections in Victoria.

Labor then held the seat until the Kennett landslide of 1992. Following this, the seat was narrowly held by Inga Peulich until she was tipped out of office by Rob Hudson in the 2002 election. In the 2010 election the seat returned to the Liberals with Elizabeth Miller narrowly defeating Hudson. Bentleigh was actually the last seat to be decided, and Miller's victory allowed the Coalition to form government by one seat. In turn, Miller was ousted by Labor candidate Nick Staikos at the 2014 election. Staikos picked up a hefty swing of over 11 percent in Labor's landslide victory of 2018 and now sits on a majority of 61.9 percent, easily the strongest result for Labor in the seat's history.

Members for Bentleigh[]

	Party	Term
Bob Suggett	Liberal	1967–1979
Gordon Hockley	Labor	1979–1988
Ann Barker	Labor	1988–1992
Inga Peulich	Liberal	1992–2002
Rob Hudson	Labor	2002–2010
Elizabeth Miller	Liberal	2010–2014
Nick Staikos	Labor	2014–present

Election results[]

2018 Victorian state election: Bentleigh^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Nick Staikos	18,443	50.20	+11.60
	Liberal	Asher Judah	12,232	33.29	−12.59
	Greens	Sarah Dekiere	2,763	7.52	−3.05
	Independent	Oscar Lobo	752	2.05	+2.05
	Animal Justice	Naren Chellappah	709	1.93	+1.93
	Justice	Ellie Jean Sullivan	572	1.56	+1.56
	Reason	Dave Stott	452	1.23	−0.66
	Democratic Labour	Fi Fraser	412	1.12	+1.12
	Sustainable Australia	Hans Verzijl	312	0.85	+0.85
	Independent	George Mavroyeni	92	0.25	+0.25
Total formal votes			36,739	93.85	−0.91
Informal votes			2,408	6.15	+0.91
Turnout			39,147	91.52	−2.03
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Nick Staikos	22,811	61.92	+11.27
	Liberal	Asher Judah	14,031	38.08	−11.27
	Labor hold		Swing	+11.27

References[]

^ "Bentleigh District profile". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
^ State Election 2018: Bentleigh, VEC.

External links[]

Electorate profile: Bentleigh District, Victorian Electoral Commission

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[1] "Bentleigh District profile". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 December 2014.

[2] State Election 2018: Bentleigh, VEC.

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