| Polwarth Victoria—Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||
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_2022.svg)  Interactive map of electoral district boundaries from the2022 state election | |||||||||||||||
| State | Victoria | ||||||||||||||
| Created | 1889 | ||||||||||||||
| MP | Richard Riordan | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Liberal | ||||||||||||||
| Namesake | County of Polwarth | ||||||||||||||
| Electors | 45,895 (2018) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 8,860 km2 (3,420.9 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Demographic | Rural | ||||||||||||||
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Theelectoral district of Polwarth is an electoral district of theVictorian Legislative Assembly. It is located in south-west rural Victoria, west ofGeelong, and covers theColac andCorangamite local government areas (LGA), parts of theMoyne,Golden Plains andSurf Coast LGAs, and slivers of theArarat andGreater Geelong LGAs, running along theGreat Ocean Road taking inAnglesea,Cape Otway,Peterborough,Aireys Inlet,Lorne,Wye River,Apollo Bay andPort Campbell, covering the inland towns ofWinchelsea,Colac,Camperdown andTerang along thePrinces Highway, andInverleigh,Cressy,Lismore andMortlake on theHamilton Highway, and finally, includes theOtway Ranges andLake Corangamite.[1]
The seat has existed since 1889 and has always been held byconservative parties. TheLiberal Party has held the seat continuously since 1970, although theNationals have provided strong challenges on occasions, such as at the1999 election when election night figures suggested retiredAFL FootballerPaul Couch would win the seat.[2] Ultimately, however, Couch failed to finish ahead of theLabor Party candidate and the Liberal candidate,Terry Mulder, won after receivingpreferences from Couch.[3]
The 2014 Victorian election saw theLiberalTerry Mulder retain his seat,[4] with a 3.2% swing to Labor.[5] Mulder resigned from parliament on 3 September 2015. Thesubsequent by-election, held on 31 October, sawRichard Riordan elected as the new member.
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Forrest | Unaligned | 1889–1894 | |
| Thomas Baker | Unaligned | 1894–1897 | |
| Charles Forrest | Unaligned | 1897–1911 | |
| John Johnstone | Commonwealth Liberal | 1911–1917 | |
| James McDonald | Nationalist | 1917–1929 | |
| Economy | 1929–1931 | ||
| United Australia | 1931–1933 | ||
| Allan McDonald | United Australia | 1933–1940 | |
| Edward Guye | Country | 1940–1950 | |
| Liberal and Country | 1950–1958 | ||
| Tom Darcy | Liberal and Country | 1958–1959 | |
| Liberal | 1959–1970 | ||
| Cec Burgin | Liberal | 1970–1985 | |
| Ian Smith | Liberal | 1985–1999 | |
| Terry Mulder | Liberal | 1999–2015 | |
| Richard Riordan | Liberal | 2015– | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Richard Riordan | 19,540 | 42.5 | −3.3 | |
| Labor | Hutch Hussein | 13,484 | 29.3 | −1.4 | |
| Greens | Hilary McAllister | 7,661 | 16.7 | +6.0 | |
| Ind. (Australia One) | Denes C. Borsos | 2,017 | 4.4 | +4.4 | |
| Family First | Hollie Hunter | 1,166 | 2.5 | +2.5 | |
| Animal Justice | Elisha Atchison | 1,101 | 2.4 | −1.3 | |
| Justice | Joseph Vincent Remenyi | 1,033 | 2.3 | +2.3 | |
| Total formal votes | 46,002 | 95.8 | +0.7 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,949 | 4.1 | −0.7 | ||
| Turnout | 47,951 | 90.4 | +8.3 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Liberal | Richard Riordan | 23,823 | 51.8 | −0.2 | |
| Labor | Hutch Hussein | 22,179 | 48.2 | +0.2 | |
| Liberalhold | Swing | −0.2 | |||
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