Division of Higgins

Higgins Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Higgins in Victoria, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1949
MP	Kelly O'Dwyer
Party	Liberal
Namesake	H. B. Higgins
Electors	104,615 (2016)
Area	40 km^2 (15.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Higgins is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria.

The division was created in 1949 and is named after Justice H. B. Higgins (1851–1929), who was a Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1894), president of the Carlton Football Club (1904), a founding Member of Australian House of Representatives (1901–1906) and Justice of the High Court of Australia (1906–1929).

Higgins covers 40 km² (15 sq mi) in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs. The main suburbs include Armadale, Ashburton, Kooyong, Malvern, Malvern East, Prahran and Toorak along with parts of Carnegie, Glen Iris, Hughesdale, Murrumbeena, South Yarra and Windsor.

Like other seats in inner-eastern Melbourne, Higgins has historically been a stronghold for the Liberal Party and its predecessors. It is considered a "leadership seat," in part because the seat's first two members, Harold Holt and Sir John Gorton, were Prime Ministers of Australia in 1966–67 and 1968–71 respectively. Higgins is the only Division to have been held by two Prime Ministers. This occurred when Holt went missing while Prime Minister, and then-Senator Gorton used the ensuing by-election to transfer to the House.

More recently, the seat was held by the longest serving Treasurer of Australia and former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Costello, who was a prominent member of the Howard Government. Costello resigned from the seat on 19 October 2009, and was succeeded in the ensuing by-election by current member Kelly O'Dwyer.

Holt and Costello were also Treasurers during their respective tenure in Higgins and the current member Kelly O'Dwyer is the current Assistant Treasurer.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Harold Holt	Liberal	1949–1967
	John Gorton	Liberal	1968–1975
		Independent	1975–1975
	Roger Shipton	Liberal	1975–1990
	Peter Costello	Liberal	1990–2009
	Kelly O'Dwyer	Liberal	2009–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Higgins^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Kelly O'Dwyer	46,953	52.00	−2.37
	Greens	Jason Ball	22,870	25.33	+8.53
	Labor	Carl Katter	13,495	14.95	−9.13
	Xenophon	Nancy Bassett	2,007	2.22	+2.22
	Animal Justice	Eleonora Gullone	1,344	1.49	+1.49
	Marriage Equality	Rebecca O'Brien	1,265	1.40	+1.40
	Justice	Jessica Tregear	1,264	1.40	+1.40
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Kennedy	1,093	1.21	+1.21
Total formal votes			90,291	96.22	−0.20
Informal votes			3,550	3.78	+0.20
Turnout			93,841	89.70	−2.31
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Kelly O'Dwyer	54,798	60.69	+0.76
	Labor	Carl Katter	35,493	39.31	–0.76
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Liberal	Kelly O'Dwyer	52,359	57.99	−1.94
	Greens	Jason Ball	37,932	42.01	+42.01
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

References

1. Higgins, VIC, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

• Division of Higgins – Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 37°51′32″S 145°02′49″E / 37.859°S 145.047°E