Research Note Index 2002-03

Research Note no. 24 2002-03

Defence Employment by Commonwealth Electoral Division

Gerard Newman
Statistics Group
10 February 2003

Introduction

This Research Note provides data from the 2001 Census on the number of people employed in defence by Commonwealth electoral division.

Defence employment is defined as including all units of the defence forces as well as civilians engaged in defence administration. It excludes persons mainly engaged in defence manufacturing activities or in operating educational institutions for the defence forces.⁽¹⁾

The table on the following page shows for each Commonwealth electoral division the number of persons employed in defence and this number as a percentage of total employed persons for the division. The data are obtained from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The table also shows the party holding the division after the 2001 election and the Cunningham by-election.

Highlights

Employment in defence is heavily concentrated in relatively few divisions. The top twenty divisions contain 58 per cent of total defence employment. Only 18 divisions have more than 1000 people employed in the defence industry. On the other hand in 120 divisions defence industry employment represents less than one per cent of total employment for the division.

As is to be expected defence employment is concentrated in divisions with major defence force establishments and in divisions with defence administration. The four divisions in the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra and Fraser) and the Northern Territory (Lingiari and Solomon) are ranked in the top nine divisions in the number of people employed in the defence industry.

The division with the highest number of persons employed in defence is the north Canberra division of Fraser. It has a number of defence bases, HMAS Creswell at Jervis Bay and Fairbairn RAAF base as well as the Russell and Campbell Park defence administration complexes.

Other divisions with a large number of persons employed in defence (in descending order) are:

Herbertlarge army establishment at Lavarack barracks and an RAAF base at Townsville.
Solomonnaval patrol boat base at Larrakeyah and communications station (HMAS Coonawarra), army facilities at Larrakeyah and Palmerston, and an RAAF base.
Canberranaval communications station (HMAS Harman) and a large number of defence and civilian personnel employed at Russell.
RiverinaRAAF base at Forest Hill and an army training facility at Kapooka.
Hughesmajor army facility at Holsworthy.
PatersonRAAF base at Williamtown.
Flindersnaval training establishment (HMAS Cerberus) at Western Port Bay.
Lingiarimajor RAAF base at Tindal, near Katherine.
Indiarmy training facility at Bonegilla.
MacquarieRAAF base at Richmond.
Brandmajor naval base at Garden Island (HMAS Stirling).
Gilmorenaval aviation facility at Nowra.
Eden-Monarodefence civilian employment at Russell.
Groomarmy aviation facility at Oakey.
Brisbanearmy barracks at Enoggera

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification, 1993 (ABS Cat. No. 1293.0).

Defence Employment, 2001 Census, Commonwealth Electoral Divisions

Division	Party	Number	%	Division	Party	Number	%
Fraser	ALP	4687	5.67	Calwell	ALP	143	0.21
Herbert	LIB	4628	7.15	Moreton	LIB	141	0.24
Solomon	NP	3846	8.35	Higgins	LIB	140	0.22
Canberra	ALP	3394	4.33	Kingston	ALP	136	0.25
Riverina	NP	1613	2.79	Capricornia	ALP	132	0.24
Hughes	LIB	1513	2.30	Bradfield	LIB	131	0.22
Paterson	LIB	1450	3.43	Cowan	ALP	129	0.23
Flinders	LIB	1434	2.74	Bowman	ALP	127	0.22
Lingiari	ALP	1333	3.05	Stirling	ALP	127	0.23
Indi	LIB	1305	2.40	Banks	ALP	123	0.24
Macquarie	LIB	1272	2.13	Chisholm	ALP	121	0.22
Brand	ALP	1211	2.81	Cunningham	GRN	119	0.24
Gilmore	LIB	1169	2.83	Rankin	ALP	118	0.19
Eden-Monaro	LIB	1104	1.87	Barker	LIB	117	0.22
Groom	LIB	1083	2.02	Bendigo	ALP	116	0.25
Brisbane	ALP	1080	1.45	Maribyrnong	ALP	115	0.24
Lalor	ALP	1032	1.69	Scullin	ALP	114	0.19
Oxley	ALP	1007	1.87	Charlton	ALP	110	0.24
Bonython	ALP	994	2.01	Isaacs	ALP	107	0.19
McEwen	LIB	940	1.51	Wills	ALP	103	0.19
Blair	LIB	811	1.75	Corangamite	LIB	102	0.20
Dickson	ALP	811	1.26	Fowler	ALP	100	0.23
Jagajaga	ALP	782	1.34	Corio	ALP	99	0.20
Makin	LIB	743	1.28	Moncrieff	LIB	99	0.15
Lindsay	LIB	704	1.16	Prospect	ALP	99	0.17
Kingsford Smith	ALP	678	1.05	Swan	ALP	99	0.19
Hunter	ALP	673	1.38	Goldstein	LIB	96	0.17
Leichhardt	LIB	596	0.84	Watson	ALP	95	0.19
Adelaide	LIB	583	1.05	Longman	LIB	93	0.20
Forde	LIB	563	0.94	Perth	ALP	92	0.16
Sydney	ALP	548	0.66	Shortland	ALP	92	0.21
Ryan	LIB	538	0.84	Hotham	ALP	91	0.17
Newcastle	ALP	499	1.01	Batman	ALP	88	0.17
Gippsland	NP	473	1.05	Canning	ALP	87	0.17
Petrie	LIB	390	0.70	Franklin	ALP	85	0.23
Warringah	LIB	388	0.61	Bruce	ALP	82	0.15
Wentworth	LIB	375	0.56	Hasluck	ALP	82	0.16
Bennelong	LIB	363	0.59	Reid	ALP	82	0.18
Werriwa	ALP	355	0.59	Kennedy	IND	81	0.13
Cook	LIB	345	0.61	Kooyong	LIB	80	0.13
Wakefield	LIB	336	0.64	Menzies	LIB	78	0.14
North Sydney	LIB	324	0.44	Robertson	LIB	77	0.16
Sturt	LIB	300	0.57	Aston	LIB	73	0.11
Curtin	LIB	299	0.53	McPherson	LIB	70	0.11
Mayo	LIB	299	0.52	La Trobe	LIB	68	0.11
Fremantle	ALP	293	0.55	Page	NP	67	0.16
Pearce	LIB	275	0.53	Blaxland	ALP	64	0.14
Gellibrand	ALP	265	0.54	Casey	LIB	64	0.11
Moore	LIB	255	0.45	Calare	IND	63	0.12
Mitchell	LIB	249	0.37	Fadden	LIB	63	0.11
Melbourne	ALP	227	0.29	Grey	LIB	62	0.12
Greenway	ALP	219	0.35	Throsby	ALP	60	0.13
Berowra	LIB	214	0.34	O'Connor	LIB	59	0.11
Lilley	ALP	214	0.37	Dobell	ALP	58	0.12
New England	IND	190	0.38	Wide Bay	NP	56	0.13
Griffith	ALP	182	0.28	Maranoa	NP	52	0.09
Macarthur	ALP	182	0.31	Fisher	LIB	48	0.10
Boothby	LIB	179	0.33	Bass	ALP	45	0.12
Dunkley	LIB	177	0.33	Holt	ALP	45	0.08
Grayndler	ALP	174	0.26	Lyons	ALP	44	0.13
Kalgoorlie	LIB	171	0.22	Ballarat	LIB	43	0.09
Mackellar	LIB	168	0.27	Fairfax	LIB	40	0.08
Tangney	LIB	167	0.29	Hinkler	NP	35	0.08
Denison	ALP	164	0.41	Cowper	NP	31	0.08
Burke	ALP	163	0.28	Dawson	NP	31	0.05
Port Adelaide	ALP	163	0.36	Parkes	NP	29	0.06
Melbourne Ports	ALP	157	0.23	Richmond	NP	28	0.07
Deakin	LIB	156	0.29	Lyne	NP	27	0.07
Farrer	NP	156	0.29	McMillan	ALP	26	0.05
Barton	ALP	154	0.28	Braddon	ALP	21	0.06
Hindmarsh	LIB	152	0.31	Gwydir	NP	21	0.04
Lowe	ALP	151	0.25	Forrest	LIB	19	0.04
Chifley	ALP	150	0.27	Murray	LIB	16	0.03
Hume	LIB	147	0.27	Wannon	LIB	14	0.03
Parramatta	ALP	145	0.23	Mallee	NP	13	0.03

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