Electoral district of Perth
Encyclopedia
The Electoral district of Perth is a Legislative Assembly
electorate
in the state
of Western Australia
. Perth is named for the capital city of Western Australia whose central business district falls within its borders. It is one of the oldest electorates in Western Australia, with its first member having been elected in the inaugural 1890 elections of the Legislative Assembly. It is currently regarded as a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party
, which has held it consistently since the 1968 election
. The present Member, John Hyde, was first elected in the 2001 election
.
Perth is bounded by the Swan River
to the south and southeast, Mitchell Freeway
and Thomas Street to the west, Green Street to the north, and Walcott Street to the northeast. Its boundaries include the suburbs of East Perth
, Highgate
, Leederville
, Mount Hawthorn
, Northbridge
, North Perth
, Perth
and West Perth
along with part of Mount Lawley
southwest of Walcott Street. Major features inside the electorate include Perth's central business district, Kings Park
, the East Perth redevelopment precinct and Hyde Park.
Historically, the boundaries included a much smaller area. In 1911, it only covered the central business district and Northbridge
, and in 1929, a section between Newcastle and Bulwer Streets was added. When it was recreated from parts of the abolished West Perth
and East Perth
districts at the 1961 redistribution, the Perth electorate included all of West Perth and part of Kings Park
, but its northern boundary only extended to Vincent Street, Hyde Park and the East Perth railway station
. The 1972 redistribution added part of West Leederville
east of Kimberley Street, and extended the northern boundary to include southern Leederville and parts of North Perth and Mount Lawley. By 1982, it extended to Walcott Street, and the 1994 redistribution saw it extend well into the former seat of Mount Lawley
.
The 2007 redistribution, which came into effect at the 2008 election
, removed Menora
and parts of Mount Lawley
northeast of Walcott Street, while including all of West Perth as well as Kings Park, which had previously been part of Nedlands
.
, the 2006 Census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
on the boundaries prior to the redistribution is the main source of information on the electorate's current profile. At the 2006 census, the median age of the electorate's residents was 35 years, compared to 36 across metropolitan Perth—only 12.1% of the electorate's population (compared with 19.5%) were below 15, but the 25–54 age group was significantly greater.* For statistics for the whole of Perth, see Only 53.7% of its residents were born in Australia, compared to 61.5% in Perth, and much less of the remainder were from northwestern Europe (10.78% as against 13.93%). At home, significantly more electorate residents spoke Italian
, Cantonese, Mandarin and Greek
at home, and whilst the top three religions (Catholicism, no religion and Anglicanism
) differed little from other parts of Perth, Buddhism
and Eastern Orthodox adherents outnumbered those of the Uniting Church
. Only 36% were married compared to 49% across Perth, whilst only 47.7% of homes (compared to 67.2%) were fully owned or being purchased. The median income in the electorate was $606 compared with $513, and 49.5% of the electorate's workers were professionals or managers compared with 31.8%.
In the 2007 redistribution, Menora
, with a median income of $397 and a median age of 48, with 42.5% being 55 years or over, was removed, whilst West Perth, with a slightly larger population and a median income of $698 and a median age of 34, and a higher percentage of professionals and managers than the electorate's average, was added.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics do not collect data on sexuality, but the electorate is home to a significant portion of Perth's gay community. Perth's main gay venues, Connections Nightclub and the Court Hotel, as well as events such as the Pride Parade and Fairday, are located in the electorate.
The electoral district of Perth was created as one of the initial 30 single-member districts, and one of only six in the Perth–Fremantle area. Its first member, who was elected on 10 December 1890, was Dr Edward Scott, a doctor by training who had been elected as Mayor of Perth the previous year. He resigned in December 1891, and was replaced at the resulting by-election on 12 January 1892 by Thomas Molloy
. Molloy became embroiled in a controversy regarding provision of state aid to private schools, which he and fellow Catholic MLAs Timothy Quinlan
and Alfred Canning supported. The Catholic Vicar General, Father Anselm Bourke
, established the Education Defence League with their assistance. However, the issue became a major one in the 1894 election amongst the voting public, and all three MLAs lost their seats, Molloy losing to George Randell
, a prominent Congregationalist who had led the cause against state aid. Randell became the Opposition Leader to Premier
John Forrest
, but stepped down from that role a year later in July 1895, and did not contest the 1897 election, which was won by a supporter of Forrest.
In the 1901 election
, after which the Oppositionists under George Leake
were able to form a minority government, Frank Wilson, formerly the member for Canning
, won the seat. After five months, the Leake government failed, and the governor
eventually invited Alf Morgans
of the Ministerial Party to form a government and appoint a six-member Ministry
. Morgans appointed Wilson minister of mines and commissioner of railways on 21 November 1901. Until 1947, members of parliament who were appointed as ministers were required to resign their seat and recontest it at a ministerial by-election, which was normally a fairly non-eventful matter. However, Leake and his allies contested the six by-elections with such organised campaigning that three of the six ministers, including Wilson, were defeated.
In 1911, the seat was won for the first time for the Australian Labor Party
by Walter Dwyer, a lawyer who helped to draft the Industrial Arbitration Act 1912 during the first Scaddan
administration; however, he was defeated by James Connolly of the new Liberal Party in 1914. Connolly became a minister without portfolio in the new Wilson government in 1916, but resigned in June 1917 when appointed to the role of Agent General for Western Australia. Robert Pilkington
won the subsequent by-election on 21 July 1917 and election two months later, before leaving for England in 1921. Harry Mann, a former detective
who, amongst other things, oversaw gaming and racing, was elected in his place.
A controversy erupted in 1933 upon the establishment of a Lotteries Commission
, to which Mann, along with John Scaddan
and Legislative Council
member Alec Clydesdale, were appointed. Several profitable newspaper competitions, including that of The Sunday Times
, were prohibited due to being thinly disguised forms of gambling. In response, a Citizens' Reform League was formed to defend the crosswords, and at the elections later that year, both Mann and Scaddan lost their seats—with Perth being won by former Labor Senator
Ted Needham
, who was to hold the seat until its abolition at the 1950 election, and North Perth
for the following three years until his retirement. One sideline to Needham's campaigns was watchmaker and jeweller William Murray, who had placed a public notice in The West Australian
on 28 October 1930 stating that Parliament "has become an out-of-date instrument for achieving the will of Anglo-Saxon peoples" and seeking names and addresses of anyone wishing to work towards overthrowing it—and then ran for election as a Nationalist in 1936 and 1943.
The seat was re-established at the 1962 election
with different boundaries—the neighbouring seats of West Perth
, East Perth
and North Perth having all been abolished in the 1961 redistribution—and was won by Labor's Stanley Heal, the previous member for West Perth. He was defeated at the 1965 election by Peter Durack
of the Liberal Party
, who was in turn defeated by Terry Burke
in 1968. Burke, the brother of Brian Burke
who went on to serve as Premier from 1983 until 1988, went on to hold the seat for 19 years until 1987. He faced some high-profile Liberal opponents, including future Legislative Councillor Bob Pike in 1971, historian and author Hal G.P. Colebatch
in 1977 and Olympic swimmer Peter Evans
in 1986.
Burke resigned in 1987, and Labor's Dr Ian Alexander, a City of Perth
councillor and town planner from the party's left faction, won the subsequent by-election on 9 May 1987. He spent much of his parliamentary time on Aboriginal
issues, sustainability and the environment and the Northern Suburbs Transit System
project. On 4 March 1991, Ian Alexander resigned from the Labor party citing "frequent breaches of the party's basic principles and platforms", and sat as an independent until the 1993 election
. Dr Alexander did not stand for election in 1993, and Labor's Diana Warnock
, a former radio talk-show host, won the seat with 50.29% of the two-party-preferred vote against the Liberals' Hal G.P. Colebatch.
On 21 October 1999, Warnock announced her departure at the next election for personal reasons, and threw her support behind former Town of Vincent mayor John Hyde, a member of the Centre faction of the Labor Party who had the support of the Left faction and some Centre members of Parliament. However, the key Centre unions had backed former ministerial adviser Adele Farina
for the post, and Labor's affirmative action policy for candidates in winnable seats meant that failing to pick a female candidate would risk sitting male MPs. A week later, the Centre faction openly split, with a breakaway group endorsing Hyde. On 5 November, Farina withdrew from the contest, leaving Hyde to be preselected unopposed ahead of the 2001 election
. He maintained the seat for Labor at the election, becoming the first openly gay man to sit in the Western Australian parliament.
{|
|-
| width=45% valign=top |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | First incarnation (1890–1950)
|-
!colspan="2"|Member!!Party!!Term
|-
|
| Edward Scott
| Non-aligned
| 1890–1892
|-
|
| Thomas Molloy
| Non-aligned
| 1892–1894
|-
|
| George Randell
| Oppositionist
| 1894–1897
|-
|
| Lyall Hall
| Ministerialist
| 1897–1901
|-
|
| Frank Wilson
| Ministerialist
| 1901
|-
|
| William Purkiss
| Oppositionist
| 1901–1904
|-
| |
| Harry Brown
| Ministerialist
| 1904–1911
|-
| |
| Sir Walter Dwyer
| Labor
| 1911–1914
|-
| |
| Sir James Connolly
| Liberal
| 1914–1917
|-
| |
| Robert Pilkington
| Nationalist
| 1917–1921
|-
| |
| Harry Mann
| Nationalist
| 1921–1933
|-
| |
| Ted Needham
| Labor
| 1933–1950
|-
|}
{|
|-
| width=45% valign=top |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | Second incarnation (1961–present)
|-
!colspan="2"|Member!!Party!!Term
|-
| |
| Stanley Heal
| Labor
| 1962–1965
|-
| |
| Peter Durack
| Liberal
| 1965–1968
|-
| |
| Terry Burke
| Labor
| 1968–1987
|-
| |
| rowspan="2"|Dr Ian Alexander
| Labor
| 1987–1991
|-
| |
| Independent
| 1991–1993
|-
| |
| Diana Warnock
| Labor
| 1993–2001
|-
| |
| John Hyde
| Labor
| 2001–present
|-
|}
|}
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
electorate
Electoral districts of Western Australia
The Western Australian Legislative Assembly is elected from 59 single-member electoral districts. These districts are often referred to as electorates or seats....
in the state
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. Perth is named for the capital city of Western Australia whose central business district falls within its borders. It is one of the oldest electorates in Western Australia, with its first member having been elected in the inaugural 1890 elections of the Legislative Assembly. It is currently regarded as a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party
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...
, which has held it consistently since the 1968 election
Western Australian state election, 1968
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 23 March 1968 to elect all 51 members to the Legislative Assembly and 15 members to the 30-seat Legislative Council...
. The present Member, John Hyde, was first elected in the 2001 election
Western Australian state election, 2001
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 10 February 2001 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...
.
Geography
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....
to the south and southeast, Mitchell Freeway
Mitchell Freeway
Mitchell Freeway is a long freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth's central business district with its outer northern suburbs. It is allocated Route 2 for its entire length and is named after former state Premier and Governor Sir James Mitchell....
and Thomas Street to the west, Green Street to the north, and Walcott Street to the northeast. Its boundaries include the suburbs of East Perth
East Perth, Western Australia
East Perth is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located next to the Perth CBD.Primarily an industrial area in the early twentieth century, it was the location of the East Perth gas works, East Perth Power Station , the East Perth railway yard, and East Perth engine sheds.A considerable...
, Highgate
Highgate, Western Australia
Highgate is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Vincent and north of the CBD. Highgate was named for the village of Highgate in Kent, England...
, Leederville
Leederville, Western Australia
Leederville is a locality within the City of Vincent within the Perth metropolitan region of Western Australia.It is home to Aranmore Catholic College, The Schools of Isolated and Distance Education, Central Institute of Technology Leederville Campus and St Mary's Church.-External...
, Mount Hawthorn
Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia
Mount Hawthorn is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Vincent.The Mount Hawthorn area was first selected for urban development in 1887. In the late 1890s part of it was purchased by a syndicate of Edward Wittenoom, a politician and pastoralist; James Hicks and C. L. W....
, Northbridge
Northbridge, Western Australia
Northbridge is an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia, separated from Perth's central business district by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines...
, North Perth
North Perth, Western Australia
North Perth is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Vincent.This old, established suburb just three kilometres north of Perth’s CBD is a place of mainly solid brick homes built from the early 1900s, many of which are now undergoing extensive renovations in line with the...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
and West Perth
West Perth, Western Australia
West Perth is an inner suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is part of the inner mixed zone, and has predominantly office blocks which have displaced residential buildings. There is a high proportion of miners and consultants, and particularly medical specialists, compared to...
along with part of Mount Lawley
Mount Lawley, Western Australia
Mount Lawley is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Most of the suburb lies within the Local Government Area of the City of Stirling and small portions are in the City of Vincent and City of Bayswater...
southwest of Walcott Street. Major features inside the electorate include Perth's central business district, Kings Park
Kings Park, Western Australia
Kings Park is a park located on the western edge of Perth, Western Australia central business district. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with two thirds of the grounds conserved as native bushland. With panoramic views of the Swan...
, the East Perth redevelopment precinct and Hyde Park.
Historically, the boundaries included a much smaller area. In 1911, it only covered the central business district and Northbridge
Northbridge, Western Australia
Northbridge is an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia, separated from Perth's central business district by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines...
, and in 1929, a section between Newcastle and Bulwer Streets was added. When it was recreated from parts of the abolished West Perth
Electoral district of West Perth
The Electoral district of West Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the west of the central business district of Perth....
and East Perth
Electoral district of East Perth
East Perth was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1962.Based in inner urban Perth, the district was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 state election. The district's member from 1894 to 1904 was Walter James,...
districts at the 1961 redistribution, the Perth electorate included all of West Perth and part of Kings Park
Kings Park, Western Australia
Kings Park is a park located on the western edge of Perth, Western Australia central business district. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with two thirds of the grounds conserved as native bushland. With panoramic views of the Swan...
, but its northern boundary only extended to Vincent Street, Hyde Park and the East Perth railway station
East Perth railway station
East Perth railway station is a Transperth railway station 1.9 km from Perth Train Station, on the Midland Line in Perth, Western Australia.It is next to the East Perth Terminal and Public Transport Centre, in Western Australia....
. The 1972 redistribution added part of West Leederville
West Leederville, Western Australia
West Leederville is a suburb northwest of the central business district of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, and is located within the Town of Cambridge Local Government Areas of Western Australia...
east of Kimberley Street, and extended the northern boundary to include southern Leederville and parts of North Perth and Mount Lawley. By 1982, it extended to Walcott Street, and the 1994 redistribution saw it extend well into the former seat of Mount Lawley
Electoral district of Mount Lawley
Mount Lawley is an electorate in the state of Western Australia. Mount Lawley is named for the inner north-eastern Perth suburb of Mount Lawley which falls within its borders....
.
The 2007 redistribution, which came into effect at the 2008 election
Western Australian state election, 2008
A general election was held in the state of Western Australia on Saturday 6 September 2008 to elect 59 members to the Legislative Assembly and 36 members to the Legislative Council...
, removed Menora
Menora, Western Australia
See Menorah about the special lamp holy to Judaism.Menora is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stirling....
and parts of Mount Lawley
Mount Lawley, Western Australia
Mount Lawley is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Most of the suburb lies within the Local Government Area of the City of Stirling and small portions are in the City of Vincent and City of Bayswater...
northeast of Walcott Street, while including all of West Perth as well as Kings Park, which had previously been part of Nedlands
Electoral district of Nedlands
The Electoral district of Nedlands is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Nedlands is named for the inner western Perth suburb of Nedlands which falls within its borders.-History:...
.
Demographics
As redistributions alter an electorate's area and demographic profileDemographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
, the 2006 Census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
on the boundaries prior to the redistribution is the main source of information on the electorate's current profile. At the 2006 census, the median age of the electorate's residents was 35 years, compared to 36 across metropolitan Perth—only 12.1% of the electorate's population (compared with 19.5%) were below 15, but the 25–54 age group was significantly greater.* For statistics for the whole of Perth, see Only 53.7% of its residents were born in Australia, compared to 61.5% in Perth, and much less of the remainder were from northwestern Europe (10.78% as against 13.93%). At home, significantly more electorate residents spoke Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Cantonese, Mandarin and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
at home, and whilst the top three religions (Catholicism, no religion and Anglicanism
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
) differed little from other parts of Perth, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Eastern Orthodox adherents outnumbered those of the Uniting Church
Uniting Church in Australia
The Uniting Church in Australia was formed on 22 June 1977 when many congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Congregational Union of Australia came together under the Basis of Union....
. Only 36% were married compared to 49% across Perth, whilst only 47.7% of homes (compared to 67.2%) were fully owned or being purchased. The median income in the electorate was $606 compared with $513, and 49.5% of the electorate's workers were professionals or managers compared with 31.8%.
In the 2007 redistribution, Menora
Menora, Western Australia
See Menorah about the special lamp holy to Judaism.Menora is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stirling....
, with a median income of $397 and a median age of 48, with 42.5% being 55 years or over, was removed, whilst West Perth, with a slightly larger population and a median income of $698 and a median age of 34, and a higher percentage of professionals and managers than the electorate's average, was added.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics do not collect data on sexuality, but the electorate is home to a significant portion of Perth's gay community. Perth's main gay venues, Connections Nightclub and the Court Hotel, as well as events such as the Pride Parade and Fairday, are located in the electorate.
History
Thomas Molloy
Thomas George Anstruther Molloy was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Perth from 1892 until 1894, and thereafter became a perennial candidate unsuccessfully standing for Parliament no less than 14 times. He also was the...
. Molloy became embroiled in a controversy regarding provision of state aid to private schools, which he and fellow Catholic MLAs Timothy Quinlan
Timothy Quinlan
Timothy Francis Quinlan, CMG was a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1890 to 1911, and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1905 to 1911....
and Alfred Canning supported. The Catholic Vicar General, Father Anselm Bourke
Anselm Bourke
Mgr Anselm Bourke, born Nicholas Bourke, was a Roman Catholic priest of Irish origins. He was prominent in Catholic education for several decades, and also founded the West Perth parish of the Church in 1901...
, established the Education Defence League with their assistance. However, the issue became a major one in the 1894 election amongst the voting public, and all three MLAs lost their seats, Molloy losing to George Randell
George Randell
George Randell was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1873–1875 and 1880–1890, then when representative self-government was achieved in 1890, won the seat of Moore in the new Legislative Assembly...
, a prominent Congregationalist who had led the cause against state aid. Randell became the Opposition Leader to Premier
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
John Forrest
John Forrest
Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....
, but stepped down from that role a year later in July 1895, and did not contest the 1897 election, which was won by a supporter of Forrest.
In the 1901 election
Western Australian state election, 1901
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 24 April 1901 to elect 50 members to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly...
, after which the Oppositionists under George Leake
George Leake
George Leake CMG QC was Premier of Western Australia from 27 May 1901 to 21 November 1901, and again from 23 December 1901 until his death on 24 June 1902.-Early life:...
were able to form a minority government, Frank Wilson, formerly the member for Canning
Electoral district of Canning
The Electoral district of Canning was an electorate in the state of Western Australia. The electorate, which was named for the Canning River which ran through the electorate, was first contested at the 1897 elections and was abolished in the 1988 redistribution...
, won the seat. After five months, the Leake government failed, and the governor
Governor of Western Australia
The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
eventually invited Alf Morgans
Alf Morgans
Alfred Edward Morgans was Premier of Western Australia for just 32 days, from 21 November to 23 December 1901.-Early life and career:...
of the Ministerial Party to form a government and appoint a six-member Ministry
Morgans ministry
The Morgans Ministry was the fourth ministry of the Government of Western Australia, led by Alf Morgans of the Ministerialist faction. It succeeded the First Leake Ministry on 21 November 1901, and was followed by the Second Leake Ministry on 23 December 1901....
. Morgans appointed Wilson minister of mines and commissioner of railways on 21 November 1901. Until 1947, members of parliament who were appointed as ministers were required to resign their seat and recontest it at a ministerial by-election, which was normally a fairly non-eventful matter. However, Leake and his allies contested the six by-elections with such organised campaigning that three of the six ministers, including Wilson, were defeated.
In 1911, the seat was won for the first time for the Australian Labor Party
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...
by Walter Dwyer, a lawyer who helped to draft the Industrial Arbitration Act 1912 during the first Scaddan
John Scaddan
John Scaddan, CMG , popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916.- Biography :...
administration; however, he was defeated by James Connolly of the new Liberal Party in 1914. Connolly became a minister without portfolio in the new Wilson government in 1916, but resigned in June 1917 when appointed to the role of Agent General for Western Australia. Robert Pilkington
Robert Pilkington
Robert Rivington Pilkington was an Irish politician who sat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly and the British House of Commons.Robert Pilkington was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1870...
won the subsequent by-election on 21 July 1917 and election two months later, before leaving for England in 1921. Harry Mann, a former detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
who, amongst other things, oversaw gaming and racing, was elected in his place.
A controversy erupted in 1933 upon the establishment of a Lotteries Commission
Lotterywest
Lotterywest, formerly the Lotteries Commission of Western Australia, is an Australian lotteries corporation run by the State Government of Western Australia. Lotterywest sells lottery tickets and "instant win" scratchcards through a network of newsagents and other authorised retailers...
, to which Mann, along with John Scaddan
John Scaddan
John Scaddan, CMG , popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916.- Biography :...
and Legislative Council
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
member Alec Clydesdale, were appointed. Several profitable newspaper competitions, including that of The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
The Sunday Times, owned by News Limited, is a tabloid Sunday newspaper printed in Perth and distributed throughout Western Australia.-History:...
, were prohibited due to being thinly disguised forms of gambling. In response, a Citizens' Reform League was formed to defend the crosswords, and at the elections later that year, both Mann and Scaddan lost their seats—with Perth being won by former Labor Senator
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
Ted Needham
Ted Needham
Edward "Ted" Needham was an English-born Australian politician. Born in Lancashire, he was educated at Catholic schools before becoming a coal miner and shipyard worker. He migrated to Australia in 1900, becoming a boilermaker in Fremantle, Western Australia...
, who was to hold the seat until its abolition at the 1950 election, and North Perth
Electoral district of North Perth
The Electoral district of North Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the north of the central business district of Perth....
for the following three years until his retirement. One sideline to Needham's campaigns was watchmaker and jeweller William Murray, who had placed a public notice in The West Australian
The West Australian
The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...
on 28 October 1930 stating that Parliament "has become an out-of-date instrument for achieving the will of Anglo-Saxon peoples" and seeking names and addresses of anyone wishing to work towards overthrowing it—and then ran for election as a Nationalist in 1936 and 1943.
The seat was re-established at the 1962 election
Western Australian state election, 1962
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 31 March 1962 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier Sir David Brand, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Bert Hawke.The election...
with different boundaries—the neighbouring seats of West Perth
Electoral district of West Perth
The Electoral district of West Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the west of the central business district of Perth....
, East Perth
Electoral district of East Perth
East Perth was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1962.Based in inner urban Perth, the district was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 state election. The district's member from 1894 to 1904 was Walter James,...
and North Perth having all been abolished in the 1961 redistribution—and was won by Labor's Stanley Heal, the previous member for West Perth. He was defeated at the 1965 election by Peter Durack
Peter Durack
Peter Drew Durack, QC was an Australian politician, representing the Liberal Party. He rose to become Attorney-General of Australia....
of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
, who was in turn defeated by Terry Burke
Terry Burke
Terence Joseph "Terry" Burke is a former member for the seat of Perth in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly . He held the seat between 1968 and 1987....
in 1968. Burke, the brother of Brian Burke
Brian Burke
Brian Thomas Burke was Labor premier of Western Australia from 25 February 1983 until his resignation on 25 February 1988...
who went on to serve as Premier from 1983 until 1988, went on to hold the seat for 19 years until 1987. He faced some high-profile Liberal opponents, including future Legislative Councillor Bob Pike in 1971, historian and author Hal G.P. Colebatch
Hal Gibson Pateshall Colebatch
Hal Gibson Pateshall Colebatch , also known as Hal G. P. Colebatch and Hal Colebatch is an Australian author, poet, lecturer, journalist, editor, and lawyer.-Personal history:...
in 1977 and Olympic swimmer Peter Evans
Peter Evans (swimmer)
Peter Maxwell Evans is a former Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1980s, who won four Olympic medals, most notably a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet...
in 1986.
City of Perth
The City of Perth is a local government area and body, within the Perth Metropolitan Area, which is the capital of Western Australia. The local government body is commonly known as Perth City Council. The city covers the Perth central business district and surrounding suburbs...
councillor and town planner from the party's left faction, won the subsequent by-election on 9 May 1987. He spent much of his parliamentary time on Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
issues, sustainability and the environment and the Northern Suburbs Transit System
Northern Suburbs Transit System
The Northern Suburbs Transit System is the name given to the project initiated and funded by the Government of Western Australia to provide high-speed passenger rail services to the northern corridor of metropolitan Perth, the capital city of Western Australia...
project. On 4 March 1991, Ian Alexander resigned from the Labor party citing "frequent breaches of the party's basic principles and platforms", and sat as an independent until the 1993 election
Western Australian state election, 1993
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 6 February 1993 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...
. Dr Alexander did not stand for election in 1993, and Labor's Diana Warnock
Diana Warnock
Diana Muriel Warnock is a former Western Australian radio broadcaster, women's rights activist and state politician.Warnock worked as a radio broadcaster with 720 ABC Perth, 6PR and 6NR....
, a former radio talk-show host, won the seat with 50.29% of the two-party-preferred vote against the Liberals' Hal G.P. Colebatch.
On 21 October 1999, Warnock announced her departure at the next election for personal reasons, and threw her support behind former Town of Vincent mayor John Hyde, a member of the Centre faction of the Labor Party who had the support of the Left faction and some Centre members of Parliament. However, the key Centre unions had backed former ministerial adviser Adele Farina
Adele Farina
Adele Farina is an Australian politician. She has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Council since 2001, representing South West Region...
for the post, and Labor's affirmative action policy for candidates in winnable seats meant that failing to pick a female candidate would risk sitting male MPs. A week later, the Centre faction openly split, with a breakaway group endorsing Hyde. On 5 November, Farina withdrew from the contest, leaving Hyde to be preselected unopposed ahead of the 2001 election
Western Australian state election, 2001
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 10 February 2001 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council...
. He maintained the seat for Labor at the election, becoming the first openly gay man to sit in the Western Australian parliament.
Members for Perth
{|{|
|-
| width=45% valign=top |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | First incarnation (1890–1950)
|-
!colspan="2"|Member!!Party!!Term
|-
|
| Edward Scott
| Non-aligned
| 1890–1892
|-
|
| Thomas Molloy
Thomas Molloy
Thomas George Anstruther Molloy was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Perth from 1892 until 1894, and thereafter became a perennial candidate unsuccessfully standing for Parliament no less than 14 times. He also was the...
| Non-aligned
| 1892–1894
|-
|
| George Randell
George Randell
George Randell was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1873–1875 and 1880–1890, then when representative self-government was achieved in 1890, won the seat of Moore in the new Legislative Assembly...
| Oppositionist
| 1894–1897
|-
|
| Lyall Hall
Lyall Hall
Henry Lyall Hall was an Australian politician, serving as the member for Perth in the Legislative Assembly from 1897 until 1901.-Biography:...
| Ministerialist
| 1897–1901
|-
|
| Frank Wilson
| Ministerialist
| 1901
|-
|
| William Purkiss
William Purkiss
William Morton Purkiss was a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1901 to 1904.Born in Hobart, Tasmania in 1844, Purkiss was the son of draper William Morton Purkiss and Ann Jean nee Walker. He was educated at Horton College in the town of Ross, then emigrated to New Zealand...
| Oppositionist
| 1901–1904
|-
| |
| Harry Brown
| Ministerialist
| 1904–1911
|-
| |
| Sir Walter Dwyer
| 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...
| 1911–1914
|-
| |
| Sir James Connolly
| Liberal
| 1914–1917
|-
| |
| Robert Pilkington
Robert Pilkington
Robert Rivington Pilkington was an Irish politician who sat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly and the British House of Commons.Robert Pilkington was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1870...
| 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...
| 1917–1921
|-
| |
| Harry Mann
| 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...
| 1921–1933
|-
| |
| Ted Needham
Ted Needham
Edward "Ted" Needham was an English-born Australian politician. Born in Lancashire, he was educated at Catholic schools before becoming a coal miner and shipyard worker. He migrated to Australia in 1900, becoming a boilermaker in Fremantle, Western Australia...
| 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...
| 1933–1950
|-
|}
{|
|-
| width=45% valign=top |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | Second incarnation (1961–present)
|-
!colspan="2"|Member!!Party!!Term
|-
| |
| Stanley Heal
| 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...
| 1962–1965
|-
| |
| Peter Durack
Peter Durack
Peter Drew Durack, QC was an Australian politician, representing the Liberal Party. He rose to become Attorney-General of Australia....
| Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
| 1965–1968
|-
| |
| Terry Burke
Terry Burke
Terence Joseph "Terry" Burke is a former member for the seat of Perth in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly . He held the seat between 1968 and 1987....
| 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...
| 1968–1987
|-
| |
| rowspan="2"|Dr Ian Alexander
| 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...
| 1987–1991
|-
| |
| Independent
| 1991–1993
|-
| |
| Diana Warnock
Diana Warnock
Diana Muriel Warnock is a former Western Australian radio broadcaster, women's rights activist and state politician.Warnock worked as a radio broadcaster with 720 ABC Perth, 6PR and 6NR....
| 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...
| 1993–2001
|-
| |
| John Hyde
| 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...
| 2001–present
|-
|}
|}
Results
External links
- Electorate Profile (Antony Green, ABC)