Division of Higgins

Higgins Australian House of Representatives Division
300px Division of Higgins (green) in Victoria
Created	1949
MP	Kelly O'Dwyer
Party	Liberal
Namesake	H. B. Higgins
Electors	98,241 (2013)
Area	40 km2 (15.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Higgins is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria.

The division was created in 1949 and is named after Justice H. B. Higgins (1851–1929), who was a Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1894), president of the Carlton Football Club (1904), a founding Member of Australian House of Representatives (1901–1906) and Justice of the High Court of Australia (1906–1929).

It is located in Liberal Party heartland of inner eastern Melbourne, including the ultra-affluent suburbs of Armadale, Kooyong, Malvern and Toorak, as well as middle-class Ashburton, Carnegie, Glen Iris, Prahran and South Yarra.

Historically the seat has been prominent in Australian federal politics, especially for the Liberal Party. The seat's first two members, Harold Holt and Sir John Gorton, were Prime Ministers of Australia in 1966–67 and 1968–71 respectively. Higgins is the only Division to have been held by two Prime Ministers. This occurred when Holt went missing while Prime Minister, and then-Senator Gorton was elected as his replacement.

More recently the Division of Higgins was held by the longest serving Treasurer of Australia and former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Costello who was a prominent member of the Howard Government. Costello resigned from the seat on 19 October 2009, and was succeeded in the ensuing by-election by current member Kelly O'Dwyer.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Harold Holt	Liberal	1949–1967
	John Gorton	Liberal	1968–1975
		Independent	1975–1975
	Roger Shipton	Liberal	1975–1990
	Peter Costello	Liberal	1990–2009
	Kelly O'Dwyer	Liberal	2009–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Higgins

Australian federal election, 2013: Higgins

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Kelly O'Dwyer	47,467	54.37	+3.89
	Labor	Wesa Chau	21,027	24.08	−5.22
	Greens	James Harrison	14,669	16.80	−0.97
	Independent	Graeme Weber	1,663	1.90	+1.90
	Palmer United	Phillip Dall	1,385	1.59	+1.59
	Family First	Jamie Baldwin	742	0.85	−0.19
	Rise Up Australia	Leanne Price	354	0.41	+0.41
Total formal votes			87,307	96.42	−0.68
Informal votes			3,239	3.58	+0.68
Turnout			90,546	91.97	−1.89
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Kelly O'Dwyer	52,323	59.93	+4.53
	Labor	Wesa Chau	34,984	40.07	−4.53
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.53

External links

• Division of Higgins – Australian Electoral Commission