Division of Wills
The Division of Wills is an Australian electoral division of Victoria. It is currently represented by Peter Khalil of the Australian Labor Party.
| Wills Australian House of Representatives Division | |
|---|---|
 Division of Wills in Victoria, as of the 2019 federal election. | |
| Created | 1949 |
| MP | Peter Khalil |
| Party | Labor |
| Namesake | William Wills |
| Electors | 110,682 (2019) |
| Area | 46 km2 (17.8 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Inner Metropolitan |
The electorate encompasses many of the suburbs in the City of Moreland in Melbourne's north, including Brunswick, Coburg, Pascoe Vale, Fawkner, Glenroy and Essendon Airport.
History
The division was named after William John Wills of Burke and Wills fame. It was created in the 1949 redistribution.
Wills has been in Labor hands for its entire existence except between the 1992 by-election and 1996, when it was held by independent Phil Cleary. Its highest-profile member was Bob Hawke, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 until 1991. The 1992 by-election is remarkable for a number of reasons: It was caused by Bob Hawke's retirement from parliament; it had a record twenty-two candidates standing; it was won by an independent; the results were thrown out as the winner, Phil Cleary, was on unpaid leave from the state education system (the Australian Constitution forbids people employed by the Crown from standing for election). No replacement by-election was held as the court decision which threw out the results was made shortly before a general election was due.
Despite the history of Wills as a traditional Labor stronghold, demographic changes and the rise of The Greens have seen Wills, along with the neighbouring seat of Batman, become Labor-Green marginal seats in recent years. In 2016, Labor's margin versus Greens candidate and City of Moreland Mayor Samantha Ratnam dropped below 5 percent after a swing of more than 10 percent to Ratnam, despite the traditional 2PP margin (versus The Liberals) of over 20 percent making it one of the safest Labor seats in the country when considered against the Coalition.[1]
Members
| Image | Member | Party | Term | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Bill Bryson (1898–1973) |
Labor | 10 December 1949 – April 1955 |
Previously held the Division of Bourke. Lost seat | |
| Labor (Anti-Communist) | April 1955 – 10 December 1955 | ||||
 |
Gordon Bryant (1914–1991) |
Labor | 10 December 1955 – 19 September 1980 |
Served as minister under Whitlam. Retired | |
 |
Bob Hawke (1929–2019) |
Labor | 18 October 1980 – 20 February 1992 |
Served as Opposition Leader in 1983. Served as Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991. Resigned in order to retire from politics | |
 |
Phil Cleary (1952–) |
Independent | 11 April 1992 – 2 March 1996 |
Lost seat | |
 |
Kelvin Thomson (1955–) |
Labor | 2 March 1996 – 9 May 2016 |
Retired | |
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Peter Khalil (1973–) |
Labor | 2 July 2016 – present |
Incumbent |
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Peter Khalil | 42,355 | 44.08 | +6.17 | |
| Greens | Adam Pulford | 25,575 | 26.62 | −4.29 | |
| Liberal | Peter Killin | 17,241 | 17.94 | −3.60 | |
| Victorian Socialists | Sue Bolton | 4,344 | 4.52 | +4.52 | |
| Animal Justice | Chris Miles | 3,596 | 3.74 | +2.08 | |
| United Australia | Manju Venkat | 2,979 | 3.10 | +3.10 | |
| Total formal votes | 96,090 | 95.77 | +2.61 | ||
| Informal votes | 4,243 | 4.23 | −2.61 | ||
| Turnout | 100,333 | 90.67 | +3.25 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Peter Khalil | 72,888 | 75.85 | +4.18 | |
| Liberal | Peter Killin | 23,202 | 24.15 | −4.18 | |
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Peter Khalil | 55,898 | 58.17 | +3.24 | |
| Greens | Adam Pulford | 40,192 | 41.83 | −3.24 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | +3.24 | |||
References
- Wills, VIC, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.
- Wills, VIC, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.