Electoral district of Geraldton

For the Legislative Council constituency (1870–1890), see Electoral district of Geraldton (Legislative Council).

Geraldton Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
Location of Geraldton (dark green) in Western Australia
State	Western Australia
Dates current	1890–present
MP	Lara Dalton
Party	Labor
Namesake	Geraldton
Electors	26,767 (2021)
Area	4,229 km2 (1,632.8 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial
Coordinates	28.76°S 114.66°E / -28.76; 114.66
Electorates around Geraldton: Indian Ocean Moore Moore Indian Ocean Geraldton Moore Indian Ocean Moore Moore

Geraldton is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.

Geraldton was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 colonial election. The district is based on the eponymous regional city.

Labor held throughout most of the twentieth century, Geraldton has since become a seat that has changed hands regularly in the last two decades.

Geography

The district has always been based on the regional coastal city of Geraldton. Electoral reform ahead of the 2008 state election necessitated an increase in the district's enrolment and thus an expansion of its boundaries, as it did for all non-metropolitan districts. This means the district now includes all outlying suburbs of the city, as well as adjacent rural areas. The district's current boundaries are identical with the former City of Geraldton-Greenough, itself a newly formed local government area.

History

Geraldton changed hands frequently between different members and parties during the early history of the seat in the late 19th and early 20th century. After 1914 however, the seat was held by the Labor Party for all but three of the next 77 years. The seat's longest serving and most famous member was John Willcock, member from 1917 to 1947 and Premier of Western Australia from 1936 to 1945.

A fairly safe to safe Labor seat for much of the 20th century, it became somewhat less safe for Labor in the 1980s. The resignation of Labor member Jeff Carr following his sacking as minister in 1991 triggered a by-election that was won by the Liberal Party's Bob Bloffwitch, the seat's first non-Labor member in more than four decades. Bloffwitch held the seat at the subsequent 1993 state election, when the Liberal Party won government. The seat changed hands with the next change of government at the 2001 state election when Labor candidate Shane Hill was elected. Hill held the seat for two terms before Liberal Ian Blayney won it with a change of government at the 2008 state election. In fact the redistribution prior to that election had turned the seat into a notionally Liberal seat.

In 2013, Blayney seemingly consolidated his hold on the seat with Labor falling to third place behind the National Party. Blayney's margin was enough for him to narrowly overcome one of the biggest swings amid Labor's decisive victory at the subsequent election in 2017, with Labor's Lara Dalton paring back his margin from a seemingly insurmountable 22.8 percent to an extremely marginal 1.3 percent. Blayney's victory marked only the second time since World War I (Bloffwitch's 1991 by-election win being the first) that Labor had been in government without holding Geraldton. Blayney defected to the Nationals in 2019, but was heavily defeated by Dalton in 2021. Dalton actually won enough votes on the first count to take the seat outright.

Members for Geraldton

Member		Party	Term
	Edward Vivien Harvey Keane	Non-aligned	1890–1891
	George Simpson	Opposition	1891–1899
	Richard Robson	Independent	1899–1900
	Robert Hutchinson	Opposition	1900–1904
	Henry Carson	Ministerial	1904–1906
	Thomas Brown	Labor	1906–1908
	Henry Carson	Ministerial	1908–1911
	Bronte Dooley	Labor	1911–1913
	Samuel Elliott	Liberal	1913–1914
	Edward Heitmann	Labor	1914–1917
		National Labor	1917
	Samuel Elliott	Liberal	1917
	John Willcock	Labor	1917–1947
	Edmund Hall	Country	1947–1950
	Bill Sewell	Labor	1950–1974
	Jeff Carr	Labor	1974–1991
	Bob Bloffwitch	Liberal	1991–2001
	Shane Hill	Labor	2001–2008
	Ian Blayney	Liberal	2008–2019
		Independent	2019
		National	2019–2021
	Lara Dalton	Labor	2021–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Geraldton

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2021 Western Australian state election (Legislative Assembly) § Geraldton.[edit]

2021 Western Australian state election: Geraldton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Lara Dalton	11,676	54.7	+21.0
	National	Ian Blayney	5,222	24.5	+7.0
	Liberal	Rob Dines	2,750	12.9	−14.8
	Greens	Matt Roberts	536	2.5	−1.5
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	Chris Mellon	380	1.8	−2.0
	One Nation	Bruce Davies	336	1.6	−7.9
	No Mandatory Vaccination	Mark Long	248	1.2	+1.2
	WAxit	Bey Bey Kung	127	0.6	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Genovese	77	0.4	+0.4
Total formal votes			21,352	96.6	+0.9
Informal votes			746	3.4	−0.9
Turnout			22,098	82.6	−2.1
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Lara Dalton	13,170	61.7	+13.0
	National	Ian Blayney	8,173	38.3	−13.0
	Labor gain from National		Swing	+13.0

External links

• Antony Green. "2005 Election Profile: Geraldton". ABC.
• Antony Green. "2008 Election Profile: Geraldton". ABC.
• "Map of Geraldton (1996–2005)". boundarieswa.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013.
• "Map of Geraldton (2005–2008)". boundarieswa.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013.
• "Map of Geraldton (2008–)". boundarieswa.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013.