Division of Fowler

Last updated

Fowler
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of FOWLER 2016.png
Division of Fowler in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election
Created1984
MP Dai Le
Party Dai Le & Frank Carbone Network
Namesake Lilian Fowler
Electors 108,517 (2022)
Area69 km2 (26.6 sq mi)
DemographicOuter metropolitan

The Division of Fowler is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Contents

Fowler is based in Sydney's outer southwestern suburbs of Liverpool, Warwick Farm, Chipping Norton, Cabramatta, Canley Vale, Mount Pritchard, Abbotsbury, Bossley Park, Edensor Park, Greenfield Park, Prairiewood, St Johns Park, Wakeley, Bonnyrigg, Canley Heights, Carramar and Fairfield East. [1]

Fowler is a diverse electorate, containing immigrant communities of Vietnamese and Chinese ancestry. According to the 2016 census, only 40% of electors were born in Australia, while 15.2% were born in Vietnam. [2] At the time of the 2022 Australian federal election, 16% of Fowler's population possessed Vietnamese ancestry, and 11% possessed Chinese heritage. [3]

The current MP is Dai Le, who was elected as an independent in 2022. She is the first non-Labor politician to represent Fowler. Le has strong links to the Vietnamese community in Fowler; she was born in Vietnam and migrated to Australia as an eleven year old after three years in a Philippines refugee camp. [4]

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned. [5]

History

Lilian Fowler, the division's namesake Alderman Lilian Fowler JP Mayor of Newtown c. 1938.png
Lilian Fowler, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Lilian Fowler, the first female mayor in Australia.

The division includes the Sydney suburbs of Cabramatta, Cabramatta West, Canley Heights, Chipping Norton, Edensor Park, Fairfield East, Greenfield Park, Liverpool, St Johns Park, Wakeley, and Warwick Farm; as well as parts of Abbotsbury, Bonnyrigg, Bossley Park, Canley Vale, Carramar, Fairfield, Fairfield West, Guildford, Moorebank, Mount Pritchard, Prairiewood, and Yennora.

The member for Fowler from the 2010 federal election to the 2022 federal election has been Chris Hayes, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

2022 election

After announcing that he would retire at the 2022 federal election, Hayes endorsed Tu Le, a locally resident lawyer, to succeed him. A factional dispute involving winnable seats on the Senate ticket saw Senator Kristina Keneally parachuted into the election for the "safe" seat in order to resolve the dispute. It would also allow Keneally to serve on the ministerial or shadow frontbench following the election. Keneally's move was heavily criticised both in the community and within the party for her decision to usurp the position of a local candidate, with Keneally living on Scotland Island on Sydney's Northern Beaches, over an hour's drive from the electorate.

Dai Le, a local independent who was serving as the deputy mayor of the Fairfield City Council announced her intention to stand for the seat. Dai Le had been a Liberal Party member earlier in her career until her expulsion from the party as her bid for Mayor breached party rules regarding running against an endorsed candidate. [6]

Dai Le won the seat after a major swing against Labor. Keneally's slightly higher first preference vote was not high enough to prevent Le from winning on the two party preferred count. Liberal Party, United Australia, One Nation and Liberal Democrats preferences flowed to Le while the small number of Green votes and voters not following a typical right to left preference flow were not enough to keep it in the hands of Labor. It was the first time Labor had lost the seat, after 13 straight election wins.

Demographic (2016 Census)

Population

The 2016 population of the Division of Fowler was 165,164 people.

People

Persons count based on place of usual residence on Census night

Fowler%
Male80,93649.3
Female83,29550.7
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people1,3330.8
Total165,164100

The Division of Fowler is one of Australia's most multicultural communities with a very high percentage of migrants and first generation Australians. As at the Australian 2016 Census the breakdown of country of birth was;

Country of birthFowler%
Australia65,66640.0
Other top responses
Vietnam24,99915.2
Iraq11,2466.8
Cambodia5,5683.4
China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)3,5772.2
India2,5891.6

Highlighting Fowler's high multicultural population as compared the general Australia population. 76.1% of population of Fowler had both parents born overseas. While the general percentage of all Australians with both parents born overseas is 34.4%.

Country of birth of father and/or mother, stated responsesFowler%New South Wales%Australia%
Both parents born overseas124,91876.12,764,17037.08,051,19634.4
Father only born overseas5,4483.3458,3946.11,488,0926.4
Mother only born overseas3,9912.4325,1824.31,094,5914.7
Both parents born in Australia18,09611.03,399,72545.411,070,53847.3

Median weekly income

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Fowler (Commonwealth Electoral Divisions) was $452.

Median weekly incomes

People aged 15 years and over

Fowler%New South Wales%Australia%
Personal452--664--662--
Family1,275--1,780--1,734--
Household1,212--1,486--1,438--

Employment

There were 66,978 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Fowler (Commonwealth Electoral Divisions). Of these 56.7% were employed full time, 27.7% were employed part-time and 10.5% were unemployed. Unemployment is significantly higher that the NSW State figure of 6.3% and the National figure of 6.9%

Employment

People who reported being in the labour force, aged 15 years and over

Fowler%New South Wales%Australia%
Worked full-time37,97556.72,134,52159.26,623,06557.7
Worked part-time18,56527.71,071,15129.73,491,50330.4
Away from work3,4255.1174,6544.8569,2765.0
Unemployed7,01310.5225,5466.3787,4526.9

Members

ImageMemberPartyTermNotes
  Labor Placeholder.png Ted Grace
(1931–2020)
Labor 1 December 1984
31 August 1998
Retired
  Julia Irwin MP 2005.jpg Julia Irwin
(1951–)
3 October 1998
19 July 2010
Retired
  Labor Placeholder.png Chris Hayes
(1955–)
21 August 2010
11 April 2022
Previously held the Division of Werriwa. Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Gillard and Rudd. Retired
  Dai Le headshot.jpg Dai Le
(1968–)
Independent 21 May 2022
present
Incumbent

Election results

2022 Australian federal election: Fowler [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labor Kristina Keneally 30,97336.06−18.48
Independent Dai Le 25,34629.51+29.51
Liberal Courtney Nguyen14,74017.16−12.89
United Australia Lela Panich5,5126.42+2.09
Greens Avery Howard4,1914.88−0.66
One Nation Tony Margos3,0473.55+3.55
Liberal Democrats Peter Runge2,0942.44+2.44
Total formal votes85,90389.48+2.59
Informal votes10,09810.52−2.59
Turnout 96,00188.54−1.50
Notional two-party-preferred count
Labor Kristina Keneally 47,86455.72–8.27
Liberal Courtney Nguyen38,03944.28+8.27
Two-candidate-preferred result
Independent Dai Le 44,34851.63+51.63
Labor Kristina Keneally 41,55548.37−15.62
Independent gain from Labor  
Primary vote results in Fowler (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Labor
  Liberal
  Greens
  Christian Democrats
  Australian Democrats
  Unity
  Palmer United/United Australia Party
  One Nation
  Independent
Two-candidate-preferred results in Fowler

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References

  1. "Fowler - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  2. "2016 Fowler, Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  3. Fang, Jason; Xing, Dong; Handley, Erin. "Chinese-Australian voters helped sway the election result. So what issues mattered most to them?". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  4. "Fowler - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  5. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  6. "Liberal Party doles out 10-year suspension after councillor's independent mayor bid". ABC News. 16 August 2016.
  7. Fowler, NSW, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

33°54′00″S150°52′37″E / 33.900°S 150.877°E / -33.900; 150.877