Electoral district of Forest Hill

Forest Hill is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It is a 22km² electorate located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, encompassing the suburbs of Blackburn South, Burwood East and Vermont South and parts of Forest Hill and Vermont. The electorate had a population of 49,641 as of the 2001 census.

Forest Hill was created as a relatively safe Liberal seat in 1976, and was won by Liberal candidate John Richardson at the election that year. Richardson was re-elected at six consecutive elections, surviving some close races against Labor candidates at the height of the Cain government in the 1980s, and held the seat with a comfortable margin of over 7% when he retired at the 2002 election. However, Labor nominated high-profile skiier and Winter Olympics medallist Kirstie Marshall as their candidate at that election, which combined with a statewide Labor landslide and the loss of Richardson's personal vote saw Labor easily win the seat for the first time. Marshall suffered a sharp swing back to the Liberal Party at the 2006 election, and currently holds the seat by a margin of only 0.78%. This will make Forest Hill one of the key marginal seats at the 2010 election.

Members for Forest Hill

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/ForestHillDistrictprofile.html Electorate profile: Forest Hill District, Victorian Electoral Commission]
* [http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/state2006resultForestHillDistrict.html State Election 2006: Forest Hill District, Victorian Electoral Commission]