Electoral district of Darling Range

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

Darling Range
Western AustraliaLegislative Assembly
Location of Darling Range (dark green) in the Perth metropolitan area
StateWestern Australia
Dates current1950–1974; 1977–present
MPHugh Jones
PartyLabor
NamesakeDarling Range
Electors31,150 (2021)
Area1,395 km2 (538.6 sq mi)
DemographicMetropolitan
Coordinates32°13′S 116°02′E / 32.22°S 116.03°E / -32.22; 116.03
Electorates around Darling Range:
Southern River Kalamunda Central Wheatbelt
Kwinana
Baldivis
Darling Range Central Wheatbelt
Warnbro Murray-Wellington Central Wheatbelt

The district is based to the east and south-east of Perth.

Geography

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Darling Range is situated in the outer east and south-east of Perth. It is a mixture of suburbia and hinterland, falling inside the Metropolitan Region Scheme and running along most of its southern and eastern boundary. The district covers all of the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale as well as the less urbanised parts of the city of Armadale.

History

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Darling Range was first created for the 1950 state election. The seat's first member was Country MP Ray Owen, who was previously the member for Swan. The district was abolished ahead of the 1974 state election. By this time its member was Liberal MP Ian Thompson, who went on to represent the new district of Kalamunda. Darling Range was recreated one term later for the 1977 state election.

The seat was radically redistributed ahead of the 2008 state election, with 15% of the voters in the redrawn district coming from its former configuration. Half of the district's voters—and indeed the vast majority of its territory—previously belonged to the abolished district of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, with the remainder coming from Armadale and Swan Hills. Thus, sitting Serpentine-Jarrahdale member, Liberal MP Tony Simpson became the new member for Darling Range at the 2008 election, whilst the former member for Darling Range, Liberal MP John Day, successfully contested the new seat of Kalamunda.

Simpson served as the MP for Darling Range until his defeat by Barry Urban at the 2017 state election. This result marked the first time that the Labor Party had ever won the seat. In May 2018, Urban resigned from parliament as the privileges committee recommended his expulsion over a series of false claims of his credentials.[1] At the subsequent by-election former East Metropolitan MLC Alyssa Hayden recovered the seat for the Liberals.[2] Hayden was defeated by Labor candidate Hugh Jones at the 2021 election, marking the second time Labor had won the seat.

Members for Darling Range

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Darling Range (1950–1974)
Member Party Term
  Ray Owen Country 1950–1962
  Ken Dunn Liberal Country League 1962–1968
  Liberal 1968–1971
  Ian Thompson Liberal 1971–1974
Darling Range (1977–present)
Member Party Term
  George Spriggs Liberal 1977–1987
  Bob Greig Liberal 1987–1989
  Ian Thompson Liberal 1989–1990
  Independent 1990–1993
  John Day Liberal 1993–2008
  Tony Simpson Liberal 2008–2017
  Barry Urban Labor 2017
  Independent 2017–2018
  Alyssa Hayden Liberal 2018–2021
  Hugh Jones Labor 2021–present

Election results

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2021 Western Australian state election: Darling Range[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Hugh Jones 14,854 56.0 +14.2
Liberal Alyssa Hayden 7,494 28.3 −1.7
Greens Matthew Lacey 1,254 4.7 −2.9
Christians Eric Eikelboom 1,230 4.6 0.0
One Nation Anthony Fenech 524 2.0 −6.8
No Mandatory Vaccination Judith Congrene 406 1.5 +1.5
Liberal Democrats Matthew Thompson 335 1.3 +1.3
Western Australia Brett Clarke 187 0.7 +0.7
Independent Dean Strautins 157 0.6 +0.6
WAxit Alan Svilicic 65 0.2 −1.0
Total formal votes 26,506 96.4 +1.3
Informal votes 981 3.6 −1.3
Turnout 27,487 88.2 +1.0
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Hugh Jones 16,822 63.5 +7.5
Liberal Alyssa Hayden 9,668 36.5 −7.5
Labor hold Swing +7.5

References

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  1. ^ Hondros, Nathan (8 May 2018). "Barry Urban quits WA parliament after committee moves for expulsion". WAtoday. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  2. ^ Green, Antony. "Commentary, 2018 Darling Range by-election". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  3. ^ 2021 State General Election – Darling Range District Results, WAEC
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