Rockingham
Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
Location of Rockingham (dark green) in the Perth metropolitan area
StateWestern Australia
Dates current1974–present
MPMagenta Marshall
PartyLabor
NamesakeRockingham
Electors29,259 (2021)
Area49 km2 (18.9 sq mi)
DemographicMetropolitan

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

The district is located in the outer south-western suburbs of Perth.

Rockingham has been held at all times by the Labor Party, and is currently held by Magenta Marshall.

Geography

The electorate is a compact, urban district centred on the coastal community of Rockingham, a satellite suburb to the south-west of Perth. The district also takes in the neighbouring suburbs of Peron, Shoalwater, Safety Bay, as well as parts of Cooloongup, East Rockingham and Waikiki. The district also includes Garden Island.

The seat was created in 1974 at the height of the Charles Court government's popularity, and was initially a marginal Labor seat. However, a redistribution ahead of the 1980 election made it much friendlier to Labor, and since then it has been one of Labor's safest seats. Since 1980, Labor's hold on the seat has only been seriously threatened twice, in 1989 and 1993.

Members for Rockingham

Rockingham has had only three members. The first, Mike Barnett, served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for most of the Burke and Dowding governments. He retired in 1996 and handed the seat to Mark McGowan, a minister in the Gallop and Carpenter governments, and later a prominent member of the opposition to the Barnett government.

McGowan was elected leader of WA Labor, and hence Leader of the Opposition, in 2012. As a measure of Labor's strength in the seat, McGowan picked up a modest swing in his favour in 2013 even as Labor was heavily defeated statewide.

Four years later, McGowan led Labor to the largest majority government in the state's history. Along the way, his own margin in Rockingham swelled from an already comfortably safe 13.2 percent to 23.4 percent. In 2021, he led Labor to the most comprehensive election victory at any level in Australia since Federation, with 53 out of 59 seats. His own margin in Rockingham ballooned to 37.7 percent, the safest seat in the state. On 29 May 2023 McGowan announced his resignation, citing "exhaustion" from the position.[1] Magenta Marshall retained the seat for Labor at the ensuring by-election.

MemberPartyTerm
  Mike Barnett Labor 1974–1996
  Mark McGowan Labor 1996–2023
  Magenta Marshall Labor 2023–present

Election results

This section is an excerpt from 2023 Rockingham state by-election § Results.[edit]
2023 Rockingham state by-election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Magenta Marshall 10,791 49.33 −33.42
Liberal Peter Hudson 3,868 17.73 +7.91
Independent Hayley Edwards 3,488 15.95 +15.95
Legalise Cannabis Rae Cottam 1,487 6.80 +6.80
Greens Madeleine De Jong 1,081 4.94 +1.77
Christians Mike Crichton 534 2.44 +2.44
Western Australia Janetia Knapp 262 1.20 +1.20
Independent Clive Gallety 193 0.88 +0.88
Independent Peter Dunne 170 0.78 +0.78
Total formal votes 21,874 97.20 +0.46
Informal votes 630 2.80 −0.46
Turnout 22,504 74.48 −9.46
Notional two-party-preferred count
Labor Magenta Marshall 13,978 65.20 −22.52
Liberal Peter Hudson 7,461 34.80 +22.52
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor Magenta Marshall 13,412 61.37 −26.35
Independent Hayley Edwards 8,443 38.63 +38.63
Labor hold SwingN/A

References

  1. ↑ Blair, Alex (29 May 2023). "McGowan resigns as West Australian Premier". news. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. ↑ State By-elections – 2023 Rockingham By-election, Western Australian Electoral Commission


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.