Division of Canning

The Canning Stock Route. It is named after Alfred Canning, who is also the division's namesake

The division was created in 1949 and is named for Alfred Canning,[1] the Western Australian government surveyor who surveyed the Canning Stock Route. It was originally a country seat that traded hands between the two main centre-right parties, the Liberal and Country parties.

Since 1980 it has been located in the southern suburbs of the two largest cities in Western Australia, Perth and Mandurah. For most of its last three decades, it has been a highly marginal seat due to the balanced proportion of the urban north and the rural south, changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Canning had a Liberal margin of 4.3 percent leading into the 2010 election,[2] and was targeted by Labor, who stood high-profile candidate and former state Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan.[3] The Liberals retained the seat; however, Canning was the only Western Australian seat to see a two-party preferred swing toward the Australian Labor Party.

A 2015 Canning by-election, triggered on 21 July following the death of Liberal Don Randall, was held on 19 September. Though the Turnbull Government was just four days old, their candidate Andrew Hastie retained the seat for the Liberals, despite having to rely on preferences after a substantial, though dampened, primary (−4.15%) and two-party (−6.55%) swing away from the Liberals − solidly less than the double-digit swings polls had predicted under an Abbott Government − however, some double-digit swings did eventuate among the northern suburban booths. The Canning Liberal margin was reduced from safe to marginal status. Political analysts agreed the by-election was a "good outcome for both major parties".[4]

In 2016, the more urbanised areas of the City of Armadale west of the Albany Highway and South Western Highway, together with the suburbs of Mount Nasura and Kelmscott, were redistributed to the new Division of Burt.[5]

The Division of Canning stretches from Byford and Carmel in the north to Wagerup in the south, and is largely based around the Peel region of Western Australia to the south of Perth.

As at the 2016 election, it includes the entire Peel region, comprising the City of Mandurah and the Shires of Serpentine-Jarrahdale (including Byford and Mundijong), Murray (including Pinjarra, Yunderup and Dwellingup), Waroona (including Waroona and Preston Beach) and Boddington. It also includes suburbs of a more semi-rural nature in the Darling Scarp from the Cities of Armadale, Gosnells, and Kalamunda.

• 2015 Canning by-election

• Division of Canning - Australian Electoral Commission