Division of McEwen

The Division of McEwen is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. Classed as a rural seat, the electorate is located in the centre of the state, north of the capital city of Melbourne. It includes the outer northern suburbs of Craigieburn, Doreen, Mernda, Sunbury and Wollert, and extends along the Hume Highway north of the metropolitan area to include the towns of Broadford, Gisborne, Kilmore, Seymour, Wallan and Woodend as well as many other small towns.

The Division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 14 September 1984, and was first contested at the 1984 federal election. It was named after Rt Hon Sir John McEwen, leader of the Country Party of Australia, who was appointed caretaker Prime Minister of Australia after the disappearance of Harold Holt in 1967.

For most of its history, the seat has been very marginal. While classed as rural, it is actually a hybrid urban-rural seat. It is split between portions of Labor's traditional heartland of north Melbourne and rural areas that tilt more toward the Liberals and Nationals.

The 2007 election resulted in McEwen becoming the most marginal seat in the country. Incumbent Liberal MP Fran Bailey led throughout most of the initial count, and was initially found to have lost to former Labor state MLC Rob Mitchell by six votes. Bailey subsequently requested and was granted a full recount, which overturned Mitchell's win and instead gave Bailey a twelve-vote victory. The result was challenged in the High Court of Australia in its capacity as the Court of Disputed Returns, and was referred to the Federal Court of Australia. Over seven months after the election and a review of 643 individual votes, the court altered the formal status of several dozen, eventually declaring Bailey the winner by 27 votes, later amended to 31 votes. Following the resolution of the long-running dispute, Bailey called for a total overhaul of the voting system.

Bailey retired at the 2010 election where Mitchell again stood as the Labor candidate and won amid a considerable swing to Labor in Victoria that allowed Julia Gillard to form a minority government. Ahead of the 2013 election, a redistribution pushed McEwen further into Melbourne, increasing Labor's notional majority from a marginal 5.3 percent to a fairly safe 9.2 percent. However, Mitchell barely retained the seat against former Liberal MLC Donna Petrovich with a majority of just 0.15 percent--a margin of just 313 votes--which made McEwen the most marginal seat in Australia. Mitchell won a third term in Australian federal election, 2016 on a swing of over seven percent, boosting his majority to 57 percent, the strongest result in the seat's history.