Division of Tangney

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.

Tangney
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Tangney in Western Australia, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created1974
MPBen Morton
PartyLiberal Party of Australia
NamesakeDame Dorothy Tangney
Electors94,353 (2019)
Area83 km2 (32.0 sq mi)
DemographicInner Metropolitan

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 Announced on 3 April 2016, it was revealed he had written an unpublished book that included graphic sex scenes, titled The Skywarriors (released as an eBook on Amazon 12 April 2016). 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
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Tangney
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in Western Australia § Tangney[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Tangney[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Ben Morton 44,740 53.63 +4.82
Labor Marion Boswell 21,644 25.95 +2.40
Greens Martin Spencer 9,319 11.17 −1.22
Independent Jillian Horton 1,933 2.32 +2.32
One Nation Scott Rafferty 1,732 2.08 +2.08
Christians Mark Staer 1,695 2.03 −1.34
Western Australia Gavin Waugh 1,080 1.29 +1.29
United Australia Chris Fernandez 969 1.16 +1.16
Independent Paul Waddy 307 0.37 +0.37
Total formal votes 83,419 95.61 −1.84
Informal votes 3,831 4.39 +1.84
Turnout 87,250 92.47 +1.27
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Ben Morton 51,275 61.47 +0.40
Labor Marion Boswell 32,144 38.53 −0.40
Liberal hold Swing+0.40

References
  1. Dennis Jensen, West Australian MP, blames 'dirty tricks' after being dumped by Liberal preselectors: ABC 3 April 2016
  2. "ABC "Australia Votes" - Tangney Electorate Profile".
  3. "Dumped MP re-endorsed for federal seat". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. AAP. 8 October 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  4. "Profile of the electoral division of Tangney (WA)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  5. Tangney, WA, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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