Electoral district of Altona

The Electoral district of Altona is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly more commonly called the Lower House. It is located in Melbourne's western suburbs in traditional working class territory. The district elects one MLA by Australia's Instant Runoff Voting system.

Boundaries

The district is located in a growth belt of Melbourne. The main part of the district are the suburbs of Altona and Laverton which are predominanlty working class. The district also includes the middle class Point Cook and Sanctuary Lakes areas in the southern section of the district. The district also includes the eastern section of Hoppers Crossing and the industrial area of Laverton North.

Future Redistributions

As a result of the large growth in the southern part of the district some part of the district will almost certainly be cut from the electorate before the 2010 election. With the Hoppers Crossing part of the district not holding a "community of interest" with the rest of the district it is the most likely part of the electorate to be cut but if growth in the south has exceed the population of Hoppers Crossing a new district may be made centred on Point Cook. Fact|date=February 2007

Demographics

Melbourne's western suburbs are generally considered to be working class with high unemployment but in the district of Altona at least this is untrue. The average weekly income in the district is A$907 compared with a Victorian average of A$812. The district does however have a higher than average immigrant population with 31% of the district being born outside Australia. The district also has a very low number of diplomas with only 12.7% of the district holding one compared to 20.2% of the rest of Victoria.

History

The seat was created in 1992 as part of a large scale redistribution. It was won by the ALP in 1992 election and it has been retained by large 2pp margins ever since. In 1996 Lynne Kosky took over from Cayrol Marple and in 1999 she became a Minister in the government of Steve Bracks. In the 2002 election Labor won by 24.7% making this one of the safest seats in Victoria.

Members for Altona

Election Results

Election box candidate AU party
party =Liberal
candidate =Steve Lambrinakos
votes =7,349
percentage =22.9
change =-12.4Election box candidate AU party
party =Greens
candidate =Tony Briffa
votes =2,888
percentage =9.0
change =Election box candidate AU party
party =Labor
candidate =Lynne Kosky
votes =21,888
percentage =68.1
change =+3.5

Election box candidate AU party
party =Labor
candidate =Lynne Kosky
votes =21,545
percentage =64.6%
change =+7.8Election box candidate AU party
party =Liberal
candidate =Steve Lambrinakos
votes =11,774
percentage =35.3%
change =-4.2

Election box candidate AU party
party =Independent
candidate =Marco Andreacchio
votes =1,145
percentage =3.8%
change =Election box candidate AU party
party =Liberal
candidate =Teresa Thompson
votes =12,045
percentage =39.5%
change =Election box candidate AU party
party =Labor
candidate =Lynne Kosky
votes =17,232
percentage =56.8%
change =

ee also

*Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
*List of members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly

External links

* [http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/AltonaDistrictprofile.html Electorate profile: Altona District, Victorian Electoral Commission]
* [http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/state2002resultAltonaDistrict.html State Election 2002: Altona District, Victorian Electoral Commission]
* [http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/state1999resultAltonaDistrict.html State Election 1999: Altona District, Victorian Electoral Commission]