Electoral district of Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie
Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
Kalgoorlie; Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
	Location of Kalgoorlie (dark green) in Western Australia
State	Western Australia
Dates current	1901–present
MP	Ali Kent
Party	Labor
Namesake	Kalgoorlie
Electors	19,651 (2021)
Area	555,549 km2 (214,498.7 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
	Electorates around Kalgoorlie:

Last updated November 16, 2024

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

History

The district of Kalgoorlie was first created for the 1901 state election and has continued to exist as an electorate ever since. Over its first 100 years it was always represented by the Labor Party with the exception of two interruptions between 1905 and 1911 and 1921 and 1923. For most of the time after 1923, it was a reasonably safe Labor seat.

However, it became far less safe for Labor during the 1990s amid demographic changes in the city of Kalgoorlie. Labor lost the seat in 2001 when Liberal candidate Matt Birney defeated incumbent MP Megan Anwyl at the 2001 state election. Oddly, this was also an election that brought Labor into government. Indeed, Anwyl was the only Labor MP to lose her seat at that election. However, as a measure of how the ground had shifted from under Labor, Anwyl only led Birney by eight votes on the first count, and lost when One Nation preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Birney.

Birney was re-elected at the 2005 state election with a large swing even as the Labor government was convincingly reelected. He retired at the 2008 state election. Upon Birney's retirement, the seat was won by independent candidate and former Labor MLA John Bowler, the former member for Murchison-Eyre. Bowler held the seat for one term before retiring at the 2013 state election when the seat was won by Nationals MLC Wendy Duncan.

Duncan also only held the seat for only one term before retiring ahead of the 2017 state election which allowed Kyran O'Donnell to gain the seat for the Liberal Party. This marked the second time, after the 2001 state election, that the Liberal Party won the seat at an election as it lost government. O'Donnell held the seat for only one term before being swept out by Labor's Ali Kent in 2021 amid the massive Labor wave that swept through Western Australia.

Geography

For most of its history, the seat was a relatively compact seat based on its namesake, the town of Kalgoorlie. A redistribution ahead of the 2008 state election saw a significant expansion of the seat to include remote areas to the north and north-east of the town. This was made necessary by one vote, one value electoral reform which meant that, where previously all non-metropolitan districts could have significantly lower enrolment than their metropolitan (i.e. Perth) counterparts, now the only districts permitted to contain low enrolment are those that cover vast geographical areas. So whilst most of its population is based in the town of Kalgoorlie, the district also includes remote communities such as Eucla, Laverton, Leinster, Leonora and Menzies.^[1]

Members for Kalgoorlie

	Party	Term
William Johnson	Labour	1901–1905
Norbert Keenan	Ministerial	1905–1911
Albert Green	Labour	1911–1913
George McLeod	Labor	1914
Albert Green	Labor	1914–1921
John Boyland	Ind. Nationalist	1921–1922
James Cunningham	Labor	1923–1936
Herbert Styants	Labor	1936–1956
Tom Evans	Labor	1956–1980
Ted Evans	Labor	1980–1981
Ian Taylor	Labor	1981–1996
Megan Anwyl	Labor	1996–2001
Matt Birney	Liberal	2001–2008
John Bowler	Independent	2008–2013
Wendy Duncan	National	2013–2017
Kyran O'Donnell	Liberal	2017–2021
Ali Kent	Labor	2021–present

Election results

2021 Western Australian state election: Kalgoorlie^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Ali Kent	7,782	52.7	+26.6
	Liberal	Kyran O'Donnell	3,695	25.0	−3.0
	National	Rowena Olsen	1,608	10.9	−13.5
	One Nation	Patrick Redreau	494	3.3	−8.8
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	Jack Carmody	465	3.2	−0.9
	Greens	Alex Wallace	328	2.2	−2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Sam Rennie	217	1.5	+1.5
	No Mandatory Vaccination	Enrico Piazza	140	0.9	+0.9
	WAxit	Rustu Buyukcakar	31	0.2	+0.2
Total formal votes			14,760	96.2	+0.2
Informal votes			591	3.8	−0.2
Turnout			15,351	78.1	−2.6
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Ali Kent	9,152	62.0	+18.2
	Liberal	Kyran O'Donnell	5,601	38.0	−18.2
	Labor gain from Liberal		Swing	+18.2

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References

↑ "2021 State General Election: Kalgoorlie district profile". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
↑ 2021 State General Election – Kalgoorlie District Results, WAEC

External links

ABC election profiles: 2005 2008
WAEC district maps: current boundaries, previous distributions

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[1] "2021 State General Election: Kalgoorlie district profile". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 August 2022.

[2] 2021 State General Election – Kalgoorlie District Results, WAEC

[1]

[2]

v t e Electoral districts of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
Labor (53)	Albany Armadale Balcatta Baldivis Bassendean Bateman Belmont Bicton Bunbury Burns Beach Butler Cannington Carine Churchlands Cockburn Collie-Preston Darling Range Dawesville Forrestfield Fremantle Geraldton Hillarys Jandakot Joondalup Kalamunda Kalgoorlie Kimberley Kingsley Kwinana Landsdale Mandurah Maylands Midland Mirrabooka Morley Mount Lawley Murray-Wellington Nedlands Perth Pilbara Riverton Rockingham Scarborough Southern River South Perth Swan Hills Thornlie Victoria Park Wanneroo Warnbro Warren-Blackwood West Swan Willagee
National (4)	Central Wheatbelt Moore North West Central Roe
Liberal (2)	Cottesloe Vasse