Benalla is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n state of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. The electorate covers a rural area of 17,120 km², and includes the towns of Benalla

Benalla, Victoria

Benalla is a city of just over 9,000 people located just off the Hume Freeway in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, about southwest of Wangaratta. Its Local Government Area is the Rural City of Benalla.- Overview :...

, Bright

Bright, Victoria

Bright is a small sized town, located in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the 2006 census, Bright had a population of 2684. It is in the Alpine Shire local government area...

, Eildon

Eildon, Victoria

Eildon is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located near Lake Eildon, on the Goulburn Valley Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. At the 2006 Census, Eildon had a population of 1186.-History:...

, Euroa

Euroa, Victoria

Euroa is a town in the Shire of Strathbogie in North-East Victoria, Australia.At the 2006 census, Euroa had a population of 2,776. The name Euroa comes from an Aboriginal word in the old local dialect meaning "joyful".-History:Major T.L...

, Mansfield

Mansfield, Victoria

Mansfield is a small town in the foothills of the Victorian part of the Australian Alps. It is approximately 180 km north-east of Melbourne...

, Mount Beauty

Mount Beauty, Victoria

Mount Beauty is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is in the Alpine Shire local government area.The town was originally established by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria to house construction workers from the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme in 1949, passing to the control of the local shire...

, Murchison

Murchison, Victoria

Murchison is a small rural village located on the Goulburn River in Victoria, Australia. Murchison is located 167 kilometres from Melbourne and is just to the west of the Goulburn Valley Highway between Shepparton and Nagambie. The surrounding countryside contains orchards, vineyards and dairy...

, Myrtleford

Myrtleford, Victoria

Myrtleford is a town in north-east Victoria, Australia, 45 km south-east of Wangaratta and 275 km north-east of Melbourne. Myrtleford is part of the Alpine Shire local government area and at the 2006 census the town had a population of 3,187....

, Nagambie

Nagambie, Victoria

Nagambie is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Goulburn Valley Highway, north of Seymour, in the Shire of Strathbogie. At the 2006 census, Nagambie had a population of 1,383.-History:...

 and Violet Town

Violet Town, Victoria

Violet Town is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is in the Shire of Strathbogie local government area. It was a coach stop on the Melbourne to Sydney road...

. The electorate had a population of 47,675 as of the 2006 census, with 36,987 enrolled electors in the 2010 state election.

The seat was created in 1904, and as it was based around a staunchly conservative rural district, has traditionally been held by conservative members for most of its history. It was held by various early conservative parties throughout the early 20th century, but became safe for the rural conservative Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 and its successor, the National Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 from the 1940s.

This trend was briefly and unexpectedly broken in 2000, when it fell to Labor candidate Denise Allen

Denise Allen

Denise Margaret Allen is a former Australian politician.Born in Alexandra, Victoria to Jack Donald and Bette Doreen Boote, she attended local public schools before graduating in 1970. She was a professional model from 1972 to 1994 before becoming a motivational speaker...

 in a by-election

Benalla state by-election, 2000

A by-election was held for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Benalla on 13 May 2000. The by-election was triggered by the resignation on 12 April of Pat McNamara, the sitting member who was Deputy Premier of Victoria until the defeat of the Kennett government at the 1999 state...

 caused by the resignation of long-time National Party leader and former Deputy Premier Pat McNamara. The strength of the conservative vote in the seat was again illustrated, however, when it returned to the National Party at the 2002 election despite a landslide Labor victory which devastated the conservative parties across the state.

The current member is Bill Sykes

Bill Sykes (politician)

Dr Bill Sykes became the Nationals Member for Benalla in November 2002 after a career as a veterinarian and businessman....

, who holds the seat with a very safe 23.06% margin.

Members for Benalla

Member		Party	Term
	John Carlisle	Comm Liberal Commonwealth Liberal Party The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation....	1904–1917
		Economy	1917–1918
		Nationalist Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...	1918–1920
		Farmers Union	1920–1920
		Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1920-1926
		Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1926–1927
	Edward Cleary	Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1927–1930
		Country Progressive Country Progressive Party The Country Progressive Party was a splinter group from the Victorian branch of the Australian Country Party active in the late 1920s. It was formed by federal MP Percy Stewart and future Victorian Premier Albert Dunstan. It was formed in protest over protection of sitting members and state...	1930–1936
	Frederick Cook	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1936–1939
		Liberal-Country	1939–1943
		Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1943–1961 Victorian state election, 1961 Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on 15 July 1961 to elect the 66 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 17 members of the 34-member Legislative Council. The Liberal and Country Party government of Premier Henry Bolte won a third term in office...
	Tom Trewin	Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1961 Victorian state election, 1961 Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on 15 July 1961 to elect the 66 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 17 members of the 34-member Legislative Council. The Liberal and Country Party government of Premier Henry Bolte won a third term in office... –1975
		National Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1975–1982
	Pat McNamara	National National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1982–2000 Benalla state by-election, 2000 A by-election was held for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Benalla on 13 May 2000. The by-election was triggered by the resignation on 12 April of Pat McNamara, the sitting member who was Deputy Premier of Victoria until the defeat of the Kennett government at the 1999 state...
	Denise Allen Denise Allen Denise Margaret Allen is a former Australian politician.Born in Alexandra, Victoria to Jack Donald and Bette Doreen Boote, she attended local public schools before graduating in 1970. She was a professional model from 1972 to 1994 before becoming a motivational speaker...	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	2000 Benalla state by-election, 2000 A by-election was held for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Benalla on 13 May 2000. The by-election was triggered by the resignation on 12 April of Pat McNamara, the sitting member who was Deputy Premier of Victoria until the defeat of the Kennett government at the 1999 state... –2002
	Bill Sykes Bill Sykes (politician) Dr Bill Sykes became the Nationals Member for Benalla in November 2002 after a career as a veterinarian and businessman....	National National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	2002–present

Election results

External links

• Benalla District profile, Victorian Electoral Commission