Electoral district of South Barwon

South Barwon is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria.[1] Located in a mixed urban and rural area south of the Barwon River, it covers an area of 621 km², including the Geelong suburbs of Belmont and Grovedale, Waurn Ponds and part of Highton, the coastal centres of Torquay and Barwon Heads, and the rural towns of Barrabool, Bellbrae, Connewarre, Gnarwarre, Modewarre, Moriac and Mount Moriac. The electorate had a population of 52,241 at the 2001 census.

South Barwon
Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Location of South Barwon (dark green) in Victoria
StateVictoria
Created1976
MPDarren Cheeseman
PartyLabor Party
Electors54,245 (2018)
Area519 km2 (200.4 sq mi)
DemographicUrbanised rural

South Barwon was created in 1976 as a predominantly rural seat which was considered safe for the conservative Liberal Party. It was won by Liberal Aurel Smith, formerly the member for Bellarine, upon its inception, and retained for the party by Harley Dickinson upon Smith's retirement in 1982. Dickinson held the seat until 1992, when he quit the party and attempted to retain the seat as an independent, but lost to endorsed Liberal candidate and former television newsreader Alister Paterson. The seat underwent significant demographic change during Paterson's tenure as successive redistributions pushed it further into Geelong. Major population growth in the traditionally Labor-voting areas of Torquay, Barwon Heads and southern Geelong, caused the seat to become progressively less safe for the Liberal Party. These changes came to a head at the 2002 election, when the Labor Party nominated former Geelong mayor Michael Crutchfield as its candidate, and amidst a statewide landslide victory, he succeeded in taking South Barwon for the first time. Crutchfield was re-elected in 2006, but lost in 2010 to local councillor and Liberal candidate Andrew Katos. Katos was re-elected in 2014 but was defeated by former federal MP Darren Cheeseman in 2018.

Members for South Barwon
Member Party Term
  Aurel Smith Liberal 1976–1982
  Harley Dickinson Liberal 1982–1992
  Independent 1992–1992
  Alister Paterson Liberal 1992–2002
  Michael Crutchfield Labor 2002–2010
  Andrew Katos Liberal 2010–2018
  Darren Cheeseman Labor 2018–present

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the district of South Barwon
2018 Victorian state election: South Barwon[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Andrew Katos 18,180 37.61 −8.64
Labor Darren Cheeseman 18,003 37.25 +3.86
Greens Marian Smedley 4,164 8.62 −3.70
Independent Damien Cole 3,699 7.65 +7.65
Animal Justice Peter Oseckas 1,474 3.05 +1.14
Democratic Labour Stephen Campbell 1,461 3.02 +1.87
Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Robert Ripa 998 2.06 +2.06
Victorian Socialists David Ball 355 0.73 +0.73
Total formal votes 48,334 95.50 −0.59
Informal votes 2,275 4.50 +0.59
Turnout 50,609 93.30 −1.60
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Darren Cheeseman 26,389 54.60 +7.46
Liberal Andrew Katos 21,945 45.40 −7.46
Labor gain from Liberal Swing+7.46
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References
  1. "Re-Member (Former Members)". State Government of Victoria. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  2. State Election 2018: South Barwon District, VEC.
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