Electoral district of Pilbara

Infobox Australian Electorate
name = Pilbara
state = wa


caption =
lifespan = 1894–present¹
mp = Tom Stephens
mp-party = Labor
namesake = Pilbara region
area = 585700
class = Mining and Pastoral
footnotes = ¹ "known as Central Kimberley-Pilbara 2005–2008"

The Electoral district of Pilbara is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Pilbara is named for the region of Western Australia in which it is located. It is one of the oldest electorates in Western Australia, with its first member having been elected to the Second Parliament of the Legislative Assembly at the 1894 elections.

History

Pilbara was created at the 1893 redistribution in the "Constitution Act Amendment Act 1893", through which three new electorates were created in mining and pastoral areas. [cite book|title=Statutes of Western Australia, 1893-1895|author=Government of Western Australia|year=1893|pages=312-324|chapter=Constitution Act Amendment Act (57 Vict No 14) Given assent 13 October 1893.] Its first member was elected at the 1894 election, and while normally a Labor-held seat, it has been held by the Liberals and their predecessors for significant terms. [cite book|last=Black|first=David|coauthors=Prescott, Valerie|title=Election statistics, Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996|year=1997|publisher=Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission|location=Perth|id=ISBN 0-7309-8409-5|pages=283-290] Its second member, Walter Kingsmill, was a prominent member of Leake's opposition, serving as a Minister in the Leake, James and Rason governments between 1901 and 1906. The seat was first won for Labor at a 1906 by-election, which was won by Henry Underwood against Ministerial opponent John Marquis Hopkins. He became part of the National Labor movement led by John Scaddan in early 1917, and later served in a Nationalist ministry under Henry Lefroy as a minister without portfolio. He was defeated by a Labor rival, Alfred Lamond in the 1924 election, but on Lamond's retirement at the 1933 election, the seat became the only seat to switch from Labor to Nationalist in the State in what proved to be a disastrous election for the Nationalists which relegated them to third place behind the Country Party. Labor recovered the seat in 1939, who held it continuously until the 1974 election, when Charles Court's Liberals defeated Labor premier John Tonkin's one-seat majority. Labor recovered the seat when they won government again in 1983, with the seat's first female member Pam Buchanan, who later became a minister in the Lawrence government. In 1989, she shifted to the new seat of Ashburton, and Larry Graham won Pilbara for the Labor party. He resigned from the Labor party in 2000, and served as an Independent until his retirement at the 2005 election, and Labor's Tom Stephens, who had resigned his Legislative Council seat and unsuccessfully contested Kalgoorlie at the 2004 election, won the seat, which for one term was known as Central Kimberley-Pilbara due to a redistribution. The name reverted to Pilbara at the 2008 redistribution.

Geography

The Pilbara electorate contains the eastern parts of the Shire of Ashburton, including the mining towns of Tom Price, Paraburdoo and Pannawonica; the Town of Port Hedland including Port Hedland; the Shire of East Pilbara including Newman and Marble Bar, Western Australia and extending to the eastern boundary of the State; and the western and northern sections of the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku, which is relatively unpopulated (especially as it excludes the town of Warburton) was added in order to balance the land areas of Pilbara and Kalgoorlie. [cite web|url=http://www.boundarieswa.com/2007/Final-Boundaries/Mining-and-Pastoral-Region/Pilbara/|title=2007 Electoral Distribution - Final Boundaries - Mining and Pastoral Region - Pilbara|author=Western Australian Electoral Commission|date=29 October 2007|accessdate=2008-08-05] The area's economy is centred on mining, particularly iron ore, and a significant proportion of the voting population are Aboriginal.

The 2007 redistribution, which took effect at the 2008 election, resulted in the seat losing areas it had gained in the previous distribution including Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek in the Kimberley region, but gaining the large town of Newman from the abolished Murchison-Eyre. [cite web|url=http://www.boundarieswa.com/2003/Boundaries/Mining-and-Pastoral-Region/Central-Kimberley-Pilbara/|title=2003 Electoral Distribution - Final Boundaries - Mining and Pastoral Region - Central Kimberley-Pilbara|author=Western Australian Electoral Commission|date=4 August 2003|accessdate=2008-08-05]

Members for Pilbara

Results

Election box begin
title=State Election 2005: Central Kimberley-PilbaraElection box candidate AU party
candidate = Tom Stephens
party = Labor
votes = 4,369
percentage = 50.12
change = +23.30

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Trona Young
party = Liberal
votes = 2,388
percentage = 27.39
change = +15.03

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Kelly Howlett
party = Greens
votes = 786
percentage = 9.02
change =

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Barry Taylor
party = Independent
votes = 738
percentage = 8.47
change =

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Paul Asplin
party = Independent
votes = 178
percentage = 2.04
change =

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Gavin Ness
party = One Nation
votes = 135
percentage = 1.55
change = –4.71

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Jason Matthews
party = Christian Democrats
votes = 123
percentage = 1.41
change =

Election box formal
votes = 8,717
percentage = 95.01
change = -1.00

Election box informal
votes = 458
percentage = 4.99
change = +0.57

Election box turnout
votes = 9,175
percentage = 68.57
change = +0.16

Election box candidate AU party
party = Labor
candidate = Tom Stephens
votes = 5,542
percentage = 63.63
change = N/A

Election box candidate AU party
party = Liberal
candidate = Trona Young
votes = 3,168
percentage = 36.37
change = N/A

Election box gain AU party
winner = Labor
loser = Independent
swing = N/A

References

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/wa/2005/guide/ckpi.htm Electorate Profile] (Antony Green, ABC)