Electoral district of Fremantle

Fremantle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.

This article is about the Western Australian state electorate. For the Australian federal electorate, see Division of Fremantle. For the Legislative Council constituency (1870–1890), see Electoral district of Fremantle (Legislative Council).

Fremantle
Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
Location of Fremantle (dark green) in the Perth metropolitan area
StateWestern Australia
Dates current1890–present
MPSimone McGurk
PartyLabor
NamesakeFremantle
Electors28,651 (2019)
Area47 km2 (18.1 sq mi)
DemographicSouth Metropolitan

The district is located in the inner south-west of Perth, centring on the port of Fremantle.

Fremantle is a historically safe Labor seat, though the Greens WA have polled well in recent times. Labor held the seat from 1924 until a 2009 by-election which was lost to Greens candidate Adele Carles. Carles quit the party in the following year, sitting as an independent for the remainder of her term. The seat returned to Labor at the 2013 election.

Geography

Fremantle is a north–south elongated electorate. It is bounded to the north by the Swan River and to the west by the Indian Ocean. A series of roads make up the district's short southern and long eastern boundary. The district takes in the suburbs of Beaconsfield, East Fremantle, Fremantle, North Coogee, South Fremantle and White Gum Valley, as well as parts of the suburbs of Bicton, Hamilton Hill, Palmyra and Spearwood. The district also includes Rottnest Island.

History

Created for the 1890 election, Fremantle was one of the original 30 districts of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. It has remained as an electorate ever since. In its early years, the seat changed hands regularly between different candidates. However, the seat became more favourable to the Labor Party in the early 20th century, and has been held by the Labor Party at all times between 1924 and 2017.

Fremantle's longest-serving member was Joseph Sleeman, member for 35 years from 1924 to 1959. David Parker, member for Fremantle from 1980 to 1990, served as Deputy Premier of Western Australia under Premier Peter Dowding from 1988 to 1990. The seat's member until his retirement in 2009 was Jim McGinty, who was the Opposition Leader from 1994 to 1996 and Attorney-General in the Gallop and Carpenter governments from 2001 to 2008. He was replaced in the 2009 Fremantle state by-election by Greens candidate Adele Carles, who won the seat having outpolled Labor on the primary vote, and gaining sufficient preference flow to fill McGinty's vacancy. In doing so, Carles set a number of firsts for the Greens in Australia.

The seat reverted to form in 2013 election, with Simone McGurk reclaiming the seat for Labor on Green preferences. A redistribution ahead of the 2017 election ballooned McGurk's margin from a fairly safe 57.9 percent to a comfortably safe 65.4 percent. McGurk's margin blew out in Labor's 2017 landslide, when she took 73.1 percent of the two-party vote, making Fremantle Labor's fourth-safest seat.

Members for Fremantle
MemberPartyTerm
  William Marmion Ministerialist 1890–1896
  John Higham Ministerialist 1896–1904
  Ted Needham Labor 1904–1905
  James Price Ministerialist 1905–1910
  William Murphy Ministerialist 1910–1911
  William Carpenter Labor 1911–1917
  National Labor 1917
  Walter Jones Labor 1917–1921
  Frank Gibson Nationalist 1921–1924
  Joseph Sleeman Labor 1924–1959
  Harry Fletcher Labor 1959–1977
  John Troy Labor 1977–1980
  David Parker Labor 1980–1990
  Jim McGinty Labor 1990–2009
  Adele Carles Greens 2009–2010
  Independent 2010–2013
  Simone McGurk Labor 2013–present

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the district of Fremantle
2017 Western Australian state election: Fremantle[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Simone McGurk 12,008 51.2 +7.0
Liberal Hayden Shenton 4,799 20.5 −8.8
Greens Martin Spencer 4,408 18.8 −0.2
One Nation Warren Duffy 1,004 4.3 +4.3
Socialist Alliance Chris Jenkins 482 2.1 +2.1
Christians Gabrielle van der Linde 453 1.9 +1.9
Matheson for WA Janetia Knapp 160 0.7 +0.7
Micro Business Andrew Ayre 144 0.6 +0.6
Total formal votes 23,458 95.5 +2.1
Informal votes 1,112 4.5 −2.1
Turnout 24,570 85.4 +1.1
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Simone McGurk 17,127 73.1 +7.7
Liberal Hayden Shenton 6,318 26.9 −7.7
Labor hold Swing+7.7

References
  1. Fremantle District Profile and Results, 2017 State General Election, WAEC.
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