Electoral district of South Barwon

South Barwon
Victoria—Legislative Assembly

Location of South Barwon (dark green) in Victoria
State Victoria
Created 1976
MP Andrew Katos
Party Liberal Party of Australia
Electors 44,738 (2014)
Area 519 km2 (200.4 sq mi)
Demographic Urbanised rural

South Barwon is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria.[1] Located in a mixed urban and rural area south of the Barwon River, it covers an area of 621 km², including the Geelong suburbs of Belmont and Grovedale, Waurn Ponds and part of Highton, the coastal centres of Torquay and Barwon Heads, and the rural towns of Barrabool, Bellbrae, Connewarre, Gnarwarre, Modewarre, Moriac and Mount Moriac. The electorate had a population of 52,241 at the 2001 census.

South Barwon was created in 1976 as a predominantly rural seat which was considered safe for the conservative Liberal Party of Australia. It was won by Liberal Aurel Smith, formerly the member for Bellarine, upon its inception, and retained for the party by Harley Dickinson upon Smith's retirement in 1982. Dickinson held the seat until 1992, when he quit the party and attempted to retain the seat as an independent, but lost to endorsed Liberal candidate and former television newsreader Alister Paterson. The seat underwent significant demographic change during Paterson's tenure as successive redistributions pushed it further into Geelong. Major population growth in the traditionally Labor-voting areas of Torquay, Barwon Heads and southern Geelong, caused the seat to become progressively less safe for the Liberal Party. These changes came to a head at the 2002 election, when the Australian Labor Party. nominated former Geelong mayor Michael Crutchfield as its candidate, and amidst a statewide landslide victory, succeeded in taking South Barwon for the first time in its history. Crutchfield was re-elected in 2006, but lost in 2010 to local councillor and Liberal candidate Andrew Katos.

Members for South Barwon

Member Party Term
  Aurel Smith Liberal 1976–1982
  Harley Dickinson Liberal 1982–1992
  Independent 1992–1992
  Alister Paterson Liberal 1992–2002
  Michael Crutchfield Labor 2002–2010
  Andrew Katos Liberal 2010–present

Election results

Victorian state election, 2014: South Barwon[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Andrew Katos 18,869 46.3 −1.2
Labor Andy Richards 13,618 33.4 −2.1
Greens Lisa Ashdowne 5,023 12.3 +3.2
Animal Justice Jamie Overend 778 1.9 +1.9
Family First Steven Thompson 769 1.9 +0.0
Democratic Labour Kevin Butler 472 1.2 +0.0
Country Alliance Stephen Chara 459 1.1 −0.1
Total formal votes 40,794 96.1 +0.3
Informal votes 1,659 3.9 −0.3
Turnout 42,453 94.9 +4.2
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Andrew Katos 21,563 52.9 −2.0
Labor Andy Richards 19,231 47.1 +2.0
Liberal hold Swing −2.0

References

  1. ↑ "Re-Member (Former Members)". State Government of Victoria. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  2. ↑ State Election 2014: South Barwon District, VEC.
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