Division of Hotham

Hotham Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Hotham in Victoria, as of the 2022 federal election
Created	1969
MP	Clare O'Neil
Party	Labor
Namesake	Sir Charles Hotham
Electors	116,085 (2022)
Area	78 km2 (30.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan

The Division of Hotham is an Australian electoral division in Victoria. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Hotham covers an area of approximately 83 square kilometres from Oakleigh in the north to Keysborough in the south. The division includes the suburbs of Bentleigh East, Clarinda, Clayton South, Coatesville, Huntingdale, Noble Park, Oakleigh East, Oakleigh South, Springvale,Waverley Park, Westall in their entirety; as well as parts of Bentleigh, Clayton, Hughesdale, Keysborough, Mulgrave, Noble Park North, Oakleigh and Springvale South.

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

The Division includes parts of the local government areas of Glen Eira City Council, Greater Dandenong City Council, Kingston City Council and Monash City Council.

History

Sir Charles Hotham, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1969 and is named for Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria 1854–55. The division was originally created as a safe Liberal seat, replacing the abolished Division of Higinbotham. Its founding member was Don Chipp, a prominent Liberal who served as a minister under John Gorton, William McMahon and Malcolm Fraser—as well as Harold Holt and John McEwen while he held his old seat. Chipp ended up quitting the party in 1977 due to personal animosity towards Fraser to form the Australian Democrats, and shortly thereafter transferred to the Senate.

Demographic changes resulted in the seat nearly being lost to Labor in 1977 despite a national Coalition landslide. Chipp's Liberal successor Roger Johnston finally lost Hotham to Labor in 1980. Labor has held since then, and consolidated its hold on the seat in the 1990s to make it one of the party's safer seats in Melbourne.

The immediate past member, Simon Crean, was Opposition Leader from 2001 until December 2003 and was in every Labor Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet from June 1991 to March 2013. Crean retired at the 2013 election and was succeeded by fellow Labor member Clare O'Neil. Since 2022, O'Neil has been the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security in the Albanese Labor Government.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Don Chipp (1925–2006)	Liberal	25 October 1969 – 24 March 1977	Previously held the Division of Higinbotham. Served as minister under Gorton, McMahon and Fraser. Transferred to the Senate
			Independent	24 March 1977 – 9 May 1977
			Australian Democrats	9 May 1977 – 10 November 1977
		Roger Johnston (1930–2020)	Liberal	10 December 1977 – 18 October 1980	Lost seat
		Lewis Kent (1927–2014)	Labor	18 October 1980 – 24 March 1990	Did not contest in 1990. Failed to win the Division of Corinella
		Simon Crean (1949–2023)		24 March 1990 – 5 August 2013	Served as minister under Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard. Served as Opposition Leader from 2001 to 2003. Retired
		Clare O'Neil (1980–)		7 September 2013 – present	Incumbent. Currently a minister under Albanese

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Hotham

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in Victoria § Hotham.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election: Hotham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Clare O'Neil	47,135	47.04	−3.72
	Liberal	Savitri Bevinakoppa	25,273	25.22	−8.15
	Greens	Louisa Willoughby	12,408	12.38	+3.44
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Sok	6,591	6.58	+6.58
	United Australia	Bruce Ridgway	5,869	5.86	+2.17
	One Nation	Roger Tull	2,926	2.92	+2.92
Total formal votes			100,202	96.45	+0.85
Informal votes			3,688	3.55	−0.85
Turnout			103,890	89.58	−2.81
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Clare O'Neil	64,382	64.25	+3.07
	Liberal	Savitri Bevinakoppa	35,820	35.75	−3.07
	Labor hold		Swing	+3.07

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Hotham in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.

External links

• Division of Hotham - Australian Electoral Commission