Electoral district of Wagin

Wagin is an Electoral district of Western Australia. As in other districts, the Wagin district elects a single person to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. The elected person is then known as the Member for Wagin, and is said to hold the seat of Wagin. As of 2001, the Member for Wagin is Terry Waldron who holds the seat for the National Party by a margin of 28.4%. The seat in 2009 is expected to be retained by the National Party.

Profile

South-east agricultural seat, with major centres at Narrogin, Wagin, Dumbleyung, Katanning, Boyup Brook, Kojonup and Tambellup. Since the most recent redistribution, the electorate also includes part of Bridgetown. It covers 22,957 km²

History

The seat was created in the 1911 redistribution.

This seat is so safe, Labor did not even bother to contest it in 1993, the 18.8% Labor vote in 1996 and 15.4% in 2001 explaining why. In 2001, sitting National Party MP Bob Wiese retired, giving the Liberal Party a chance of winning the seat. On primary votes, new National candidate Terry Waldron polled 28.0%, the Liberal Party 25.9%, One Nation 19.6%, Labor 15.4% with 11% with two other candidates. Despite One Nation's policy of directing preferences against the National Party, Waldron received the majority of preferences, as well as Labor's preferences, easily defeating the Liberal Party challenge.