Electoral district of Central Wheatbelt

Infobox Australian Electorate
name = Central Wheatbelt
state = wa


caption =
lifespan = 2008–present
mp = Brendon Grylls
mp-party = National
namesake = Wheatbelt region
area = 53898
class = Agricultural

Central Wheatbelt is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.

As the name suggests, the district is centrally located in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.

Politically, Central Wheatbelt is a safe National Party seat.

History

Central Wheatbelt was first created for the 2008 state election. It was essentially an almagamation of the abolished National-held districts of Avon and Merredin, although parts of each ended up in neighbouring districts. Roughly half the new district's voters came from each of the two former districts.

The original proposal had the newly created district persisting with the name Merredin.cite web | title=2007 Redistribution: Proposed Boundaries | publisher=boundarieswa.com | url=http://boundarieswa.com/2007/Proposed-Boundaries/Country-Areas/Agricultural-Area/] However, this was the focus of several objections, as Merredin is but one town in the eastern part of this sizeable electorate.cite web | title=2007 Redistribution: Written Objections | publisher=boundarieswa.com | url=http://boundarieswa.com/2007/Submissions/Written-Objections/] Instead, the more generic name of Central Wheatbelt was adopted.

The inaugural member for Central Wheatbelt is National Party leader Brendon Grylls, who was previously the member for Merredin.

Geography

Central Wheatbelt incorporates a number of rural inland shires to the east of Perth. Its population centres include Ballidu, Beacon, Beverley, Meckering, Merredin, Narembeen, Northam, Westonia, Wongan Hills, Wundowie, Wyalkatchem and York.

Members for Central Wheatbelt

Election results

Election box begin
title=Western Australian state election, 2008: Central Wheatbeltref label|1|1|1Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Brendon Grylls
party = WA Nationals
votes = 8,334
percentage = 47.79
change = -7.1

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Stephen Strange
party = Liberal
votes = 4,471
percentage = 25.64
change = +11.9

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Gerry Sturman
party = Labor
votes = 2,909
percentage = 16.68
change = +1.7

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Yvonne Dols
party = Greens WA
votes = 996
percentage = 5.71
change = +1.5

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Ross Patterson
party = Christian Democrats
votes = 573
percentage = 3.29
change = +0.9

Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Judy Sudholz
party = CEC
votes = 155
percentage = 0.89
change = +0.89

Election box formal
votes = 17,438
percentage = 96.01
change =

Election box informal
votes = 724
percentage = 3.99
change =

Election box turnout
votes = 18,162
percentage = 88.63
change =

Election box candidate AU party
party = WA Nationals
candidate = Brendon Grylls
votes = 11,806
percentage = 67.92
change = N/A

Election box candidate AU party
party = Liberal
candidate = Stephen Strange
votes = 5,577
percentage = 32.08
change = N/A

Election box hold AU party
winner = WA Nationals
swing = N/A

:note label|1|1|1 Central Wheatbelt was a new electorate at the 2008 election. Therefore, the swings presented are based on the ABC's calculation of redistributed results. On a two-party preferred basis it was notionally a Nationals seat with a margin of 26.0% over the Labor Party.

References

External links

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