Created 1901 Electors 107,782 (2016) Founded 1901 Member of parliament Richard Marles Elector 107,782 | MP Richard Marles Demographic Provincial Area 989 km² Party Australian Labor Party Namesake Corio Bay | |
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The Division of Corio is an Australian electoral division in the state of Victoria. The division one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. Named for Corio Bay, it has always been based on the city of Geelong, although in the past it stretched as far east as the outer western suburbs of Melbourne.
The division comprises an area of 989 square kilometres (382 sq mi) from the western shores of Port Phillip Bay, stretching to the north of Geelong and inland and covering most of the Bellarine Peninsula. Besides Geelong, it includes Avalon, Bell Park, Bell Post Hill, Breakwater, Corio, Curlewis, Drysdale, East Geelong, North Geelong, South Geelong, Geelong West, Hamlyn Heights, Herne Hill, Lara, Lovely Banks, Manifold Heights, Moolap, Newcomb, Norlane, North Shore, Portarlington, St Albans Park, St Leonards, Rippleside and Whittington; and parts of Anakie, Batesford, Clifton Springs, Fyansford, Leopold, Newtown, and Thomson.
The current Member for Corio, since the 2007 federal election, is Richard Marles, a member of the Australian Labor Party.
History
For most of the first seven decades after Federation, it was a marginal seat that frequently changed hands between the Australian Labor Party and the conservative parties. However, Labor has held it without interruption since a 1967 by-election, and since the 1980s it has been one of Labor's safest non-metropolitan seats. Presently, the Liberals need a 10 percent swing to win it, up from 7.7 percent at the time the writs were dropped for the 2016 election.
Its most prominent members have been Richard Casey, a leading Cabinet member in the 1930s and later Governor-General; Hubert Opperman, a former cycling champion and a minister in the Menzies government; and Gordon Scholes, who was Speaker during the Whitlam government and a minister in the Hawke government.