State Victoria Electors 43,801 (2014) Area 27 km² Elector 43,801 | MP Ellen Sandell Demographic Central Metropolitan Member of parliament Ellen Sandell Party Australian Greens | |
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Dates current 1856–1859, 1889–present | ||
The Electoral district of Melbourne is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It currently includes the localities of Carlton, North Carlton, Melbourne, East Melbourne, West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Newmarket, Kensington and Flemington, and includes Melbourne University. The district has been in existence since 1856 (it was abolished in 1859 and reestablished in 1889).
The electorate was won in 2014 for the first time by an Australian Greens candidate Ellen Sandell.
History
Melbourne was one of the inaugural districts of the first Assembly in 1856. Its area was defined by the 1855 Act as:
a now Flemington BridgeMelbourne was abolished in 1859, its area was split into the new Electoral district of East Melbourne and Electoral district of West Melbourne, each having two members.
Melbourne was re-created as a single-member electorate by the Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888 which took effect at the 1889 elections.
Since 1908 the seat had been traditional Labor territory since 1908, but had become increasingly marginal against the Australian Greens since 2002. Senior Labor minister Bronwyn Pike successfully held the seat against strong Greens challenges at three subsequent elections, defeating future Greens Senator Richard Di Natale in 2002 and 2006, and prominent lawyer Brian Walters in 2010. Pike resigned in 2012, and Labor candidate and City of Melbourne councillor Jennifer Kanis retained the seat after a closely contested by-election, which saw her finish second on primary votes to Greens candidate Cathy Oke but win on preferences. Kanis lost the seat to Greens candidate Ellen Sandell at the 2014 election. Along with the seat of Prahran it was the first win for the Greens in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.