Division of Wills

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Wills
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Wills 2022.png
Division of Wills in Victoria, as of the 2022 federal election
Created1949
MP Peter Khalil
Party Labor
Namesake William Wills
Electors 108,500 (2022)
Area46 km2 (17.8 sq mi)
DemographicInner metropolitan

The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently represented by Peter Khalil of the Australian Labor Party.

Contents

The electorate encompasses many of the suburbs in the City of Merri-bek in Melbourne's north, including Brunswick, Coburg, Pascoe Vale, Fawkner, Glenroy and Essendon Airport.

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. [1]

History

William Wills, the division's namesake Portrait of William J Wills by Thomas Adams Hill.jpg
William Wills, the division's namesake

The division was named after William John Wills of Burke and Wills fame. It was created in the 1949 redistribution.

Wills has been in Labor hands for its entire existence except between the 1992 by-election and 1996, when it was held by independent Phil Cleary. Its highest-profile member was Bob Hawke, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 until 1991. The 1992 by-election is remarkable for a number of reasons: It was caused by Bob Hawke's retirement from parliament; it had a record twenty-two candidates standing; it was won by an independent; the results were thrown out as the winner, Phil Cleary, was on unpaid leave from the state education system (the Australian Constitution forbids people employed by the Crown from standing for election). No replacement by-election was held as the court decision which threw out the results was made shortly before a general election was due.

While Wills remains a traditional Labor stronghold, demographic changes and the rise of The Greens has seen Wills, along with the neighbouring seat of Cooper, become Labor-Green contests in recent years. In 2016, Labor's margin versus Greens candidate and City of Merri-bek Mayor Samantha Ratnam dropped below 5 percent after a swing of more than 10 percent to Ratnam, despite the traditional 2PP margin (versus The Liberals) of over 20 percent making it one of the safest Labor seats in the country when considered against the Coalition. [2] Labor's margin over the Greens increased to over 8 percent at the 2019 election, and remained almost unchanged at the 2022 Election.

Demographics

Wills has undergone inner-city gentrification, particularly in Brunswick, which has led to a surge in support for the Greens in the seat. However, the Labor vote increases the further residents live from the Green heartland of Brunswick. [3]

Wills has relatively large immigrant communities, with populations of second-generation Greek and Italian immigrants. According to the 2016 census, 47.8% of electors had both parents born outside of Australia. [4]

As of 2016, 7.7% of electors spoke Italian, 4.7% Arabic, and 4.5% Greek at home. [4]

Members

ImageMemberPartyTermNotes
  William George Bryson.jpg Bill Bryson
(1898–1973)
Labor 10 December 1949
April 1955
Previously held the Division of Bourke. Lost seat
  Labor (Anti-Communist) April 1955
10 December 1955
  Gordon Bryant 1973 (cropped).jpg Gordon Bryant
(1914–1991)
Labor 10 December 1955
19 September 1980
Served as minister under Whitlam. Retired
  Hawke Bob BANNER.jpg Bob Hawke
(1929–2019)
18 October 1980
20 February 1992
Served as Opposition Leader in 1983. Served as Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991. Resigned to retire from politics
  No image.svg Phil Cleary
(1952–)
Independent 11 April 1992
25 November 1992
1992 by-election results declared void, for holding an office of profit under the Crown. Subsequently re-elected. Lost seat
  13 March 1993
2 March 1996
  Kelvin Thomson.jpg Kelvin Thomson
(1955–)
Labor 2 March 1996
9 May 2016
Retired
  Peter Khalil 2016 (cropped).jpg Peter Khalil
(1973–)
2 July 2016
present
Incumbent

Election results

2022 Australian federal election: Wills [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labor Peter Khalil 35,44938.87−5.39
Greens Sarah Jefford25,79328.28+2.01
Liberal Tom Wright15,77117.29−0.76
United Australia Irene Zivkovic3,3523.68+0.54
Socialist Alliance Sue Bolton3,0963.39+3.39
Victorian Socialists Emma Black2,7142.98−1.53
One Nation Jill Tindal2,5542.80+2.80
Animal Justice Leah Horsfall1,6801.84−1.92
Australian Federation Sam Sergi7890.87+0.87
Total formal votes91,19894.95−0.77
Informal votes4,8555.05+0.77
Turnout 96,05388.61−2.55
Notional two-party-preferred count
Labor Peter Khalil 69,10475.77+0.06
Liberal Tom Wright22,09424.23−0.06
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor Peter Khalil 53,41558.57+0.10
Greens Sarah Jefford37,78341.43−0.10
Labor hold Swing +0.10

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References

  1. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. Wills, VIC, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.
  3. "Wills (Key Seat) - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  4. 1 2 "2016 Wills, Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  5. Wills, VIC, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

37°43′44″S144°56′35″E / 37.729°S 144.943°E / -37.729; 144.943