Created 1989 Electors 104,451 (2016) Founded 1989 Elector 104,451 | Demographic Outer Metropolitan | |
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Area 13,250 km (5,115.9 sq mi) Party Liberal Party of Australia |
The Division of Pearce is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. A hybrid urban-rural seat located to the east and north of Perth, it takes in the far northern suburbs of the metropolitan area before fanning inland from the Indian Ocean to take in portions of the Wheatbelt southeast, east and northeast of the capital.
It includes the Perth suburbs of Mindarie, Ellenbrook and Middle Swan and the 'Avon Arc' Wheatbelt towns of Gingin, Northam, York, Toodyay, Chittering and Beverley.
The division was named after Rt Hon Sir George Pearce, a founder of the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia, and the longest-serving member of the Australian Senate. The division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 31 March 1989, and was first contested at the 1990 federal election. It has been held by the Liberal Party of Australia for its entire existence. For most of its first quarter-century, it was usually a reasonably safe Liberal seat.
On 12 June 2012, Western Australian state cabinet minister Christian Porter announced he would contest the federal seat of Pearce during the 2013 federal election due to the retirement of Judi Moylan. Porter retained the seat for the Liberal Party. In his bid for reelection in 2016, however, Porter suffered a five-point swing, making Pearce a marginal seat for the first time.