The electoral pendulum: 2019 Election, 2021 boundaries

18 May 2022

PDF version [255 KB]

Christopher Giuliano
Statistics and Mapping

Overview

This publication shows the House of Representatives seats held by the Coalition (Liberal Party, National Party, Liberal National Party, Country Liberal Party), the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and the crossbench in order of margin from safest to most marginal. It incorporates redistributed boundaries in Victoria and Western Australia.

All data in this report is based on the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) table ‘Historical two candidate preferred (TCP) votes by party by division’.

Notes:

  • Electorates with margins that had a notional change due to redistributed boundaries are shown in bold.
  • The definitions of ‘marginal’ (less than 6%), ‘fairly safe’ (between 6% and 10%) and ‘safe’ (more than 10%) are a legacy of the 1972 book ‘Australian General Elections’ by Malcolm Mackerras.[1]
  • Mr Mackerras used the percentage the winning party received minus 50%, or ‘the swing required to lose’. This calculation is referred to by political commentators as the ‘margin’, in contrast to a conventional dictionary definition of ‘margin’ (difference, gap).
  • Non-classic seats are where one or both of the final two candidates was not from the Labor or Coalition parties.

Table 1: Liberal Party/Nationals Coalition—two candidate preferred margins


Division State % Seat status
Maranoa* QLD 22.49 Safe
Groom QLD 20.48 Safe
Nicholls VIC 20.03 Safe
Riverina NSW 19.48 Safe
Cook NSW 19.02 Safe
Barker SA 18.94 Safe
Mitchell NSW 18.63 Safe
Parkes NSW 16.91 Safe
Gippsland VIC 16.67 Safe
Bradfield NSW 16.56 Safe
Mallee VIC 15.68 Safe
Berowra NSW 15.65 Safe
O'Connor WA 15.42 Safe
Moncrieff QLD 15.36 Safe
Lyne NSW 15.17 Safe
Dawson QLD 14.61 Safe
Wright QLD 14.58 Safe
Forrest WA 14.58 Safe
Hinkler QLD 14.50 Safe
New England (NSW)* NSW 14.36 Safe
Fadden QLD 14.18 Safe
Curtin WA 13.95 Safe
Durack WA 13.49 Safe
Fairfax QLD 13.44 Safe
Grey SA 13.32 Safe
Calare NSW 13.29 Safe
Mackellar NSW 13.22 Safe
Wide Bay QLD 13.15 Safe
Hume NSW 12.99 Safe
Fisher QLD 12.70 Safe
Capricornia QLD 12.35 Safe
McPherson QLD 12.20 Safe
Moore WA 11.62 Safe
Canning WA 11.56 Safe
Farrer* NSW 10.94 Safe
Bowman QLD 10.24 Safe
Wannon VIC 10.17 Safe
Aston VIC 10.13 Safe
Division State % Seat status
Hughes NSW 9.85 Fairly Safe
Tangney WA 9.50 Fairly Safe
Page NSW 9.45 Fairly Safe
North Sydney NSW 9.27 Fairly Safe
Flynn QLD 8.66 Fairly Safe
Forde QLD 8.60 Fairly Safe
Petrie QLD 8.40 Fairly Safe
Herbert QLD 8.36 Fairly Safe
Goldstein VIC 7.79 Fairly Safe
Bonner QLD 7.41 Fairly Safe
Menzies VIC 7.02 Fairly Safe
Bennelong NSW 6.91 Fairly Safe
Sturt SA 6.87 Fairly Safe
Monash VIC 6.86 Fairly Safe
Cowper* NSW 6.79 Fairly Safe
Banks NSW 6.26 Fairly Safe
Ryan QLD 6.03 Fairly Safe
Hasluck WA 5.89 Marginal
Flinders VIC 5.64 Marginal
Kooyong* VIC 5.42 Marginal
Pearce WA 5.19 Marginal
La Trobe VIC 5.13 Marginal
Lindsay NSW 5.04 Marginal
Brisbane QLD 4.92 Marginal
Deakin VIC 4.69 Marginal
Dickson QLD 4.64 Marginal
Casey VIC 4.62 Marginal
Robertson NSW 4.24 Marginal
Leichhardt QLD 4.17 Marginal
Longman QLD 3.28 Marginal
Swan WA 3.22 Marginal
Reid NSW 3.18 Marginal
Braddon TAS 3.09 Marginal
Higgins VIC 2.61 Marginal
Boothby SA 1.38 Marginal
Wentworth* NSW 1.31 Marginal
Chisholm VIC 0.45 Marginal
Bass TAS 0.41 Marginal

* Indicates non-classic seats

Table 2: ALP—two candidate preferred margins


Division State % Seat status
Scullin VIC 21.66 Safe
Calwell VIC 19.62 Safe
Sydney NSW 18.67 Safe
Fraser VIC 18.05 Safe
Canberra ACT 17.08 Safe
Grayndler* NSW 16.30 Safe
Cooper* VIC 14.83 Safe
Blaxland NSW 14.72 Safe
Gorton VIC 14.26 Safe
Spence SA 14.13 Safe
Fowler NSW 13.99 Safe
Newcastle NSW 13.83 Safe
Watson NSW 13.52 Safe
Cunningham NSW 13.41 Safe
Gellibrand VIC 13.02 Safe
Lalor VIC 12.46 Safe
Chifley NSW 12.37 Safe
Franklin TAS 12.21 Safe
Kingston SA 11.94 Safe
Hotham VIC 11.18 Safe
Whitlam NSW 10.91 Safe
Fenner ACT 10.56 Safe
Corio VIC 10.32 Safe
Maribyrnong VIC 10.31 Safe
Ballarat VIC 10.23 Safe
Hawke VIC 10.22 Safe
Makin SA 9.72 Fairly Safe
Barton NSW 9.41 Fairly Safe
Bendigo VIC 8.85 Fairly Safe
Kingsford Smith NSW 8.81 Fairly Safe
Holt VIC 8.63 Fairly Safe
Wills* VIC 8.47 Fairly Safe
Macarthur NSW 8.40 Fairly Safe
Adelaide SA 8.18 Fairly Safe
Bean ACT 7.52 Fairly Safe
Bruce VIC 7.28 Fairly Safe
Fremantle WA 6.92 Fairly Safe
Division State % Seat status
Brand WA 6.66 Fairly Safe
McMahon NSW 6.64 Fairly Safe
Hindmarsh SA 6.54 Fairly Safe
Isaacs VIC 6.46 Fairly Safe
Rankin QLD 6.44 Fairly Safe
Oxley QLD 6.39 Fairly Safe
Jagajaga VIC 5.89 Marginal
Burt WA 5.50 Marginal
Werriwa NSW 5.47 Marginal
Lingiari NT 5.46 Marginal
McEwen VIC 5.28 Marginal
Lyons TAS 5.18 Marginal
Paterson NSW 5.04 Marginal
Macnamara VIC 4.91 Marginal
Shortland NSW 4.45 Marginal
Richmond NSW 4.08 Marginal
Parramatta NSW 3.50 Marginal
Perth WA 3.23 Marginal
Solomon NT 3.08 Marginal
Hunter NSW 2.98 Marginal
Griffith QLD 2.86 Marginal
Greenway NSW 2.80 Marginal
Dunkley VIC 2.74 Marginal
Gilmore NSW 2.61 Marginal
Moreton QLD 1.90 Marginal
Dobell NSW 1.50 Marginal
Blair QLD 1.21 Marginal
Corangamite VIC 1.05 Marginal
Cowan WA 0.86 Marginal
Eden-Monaro NSW 0.85 Marginal
Lilley QLD 0.64 Marginal
Macquarie NSW 0.19 Marginal
       
       
       
       
       

* Indicates non-classic seats

Table 3: other parties and independents—two candidate preferred margins


Division State % Seat status Party
Melbourne VIC 22.60 Safe GRN
Clark TAS 22.12 Safe IND
Kennedy QLD 13.33 Safe KAP
Warringah NSW 7.24 Fairly Safe IND
Mayo SA 5.14 Marginal CA
Indi VIC 1.39 Marginal IND

Table 4: ‘Non-classic’ seats—two candidate preferred margins


Division State % Seat status Parties in contest (winner first)
Melbourne VIC 22.60 Safe GRN v LP
Maranoa QLD 22.49 Safe LNP v PHON
Clark TAS 22.12 Safe IND v ALP
Grayndler NSW 16.30 Safe ALP v GRN
Cooper VIC 14.65 Safe ALP v GRN
New England NSW 14.36 Safe NP v IND
Kennedy QLD 13.33 Safe KAP v LNP
Farrer NSW 10.94 Safe LP v IND
Wills VIC 8.47 Fairly Safe ALP v GRN
Warringah NSW 7.24 Fairly Safe IND v LP
Cowper NSW 6.79 Fairly Safe NP v IND
Kooyong VIC 5.42 Marginal LP v GRN
Mayo SA 5.14 Marginal CA v LP
Indi VIC 1.39 Marginal IND v LP
Wentworth NSW 1.31 Marginal LP v IND

Party name and acronym


ALP Australian Labor Party
CA Centre Alliance
GRN Greens
IND Independent
KAP Katter’s Australian Party
LNP Liberal National Party (Qld)
LP Liberal Party
NP Nationals
PHON Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

 


[1] Six per cent was the swing needed by Labor to win La Trobe (Victoria) in 1972 and it was the strongest Liberal seat Labor hoped to win–and did win. Those thresholds for seat status have remained in general use since.

 

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