Division of Durack

The Division of Durack is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia.

Durack
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Durack in Western Australia, as of the 2021 redistribution.
Created2010
MPMelissa Price
PartyLiberal
NamesakeDurack family of Western Australia
Electors97,068 (2019)
Area1,629,858 km2 (629,291.7 sq mi)
DemographicRural

History
Dame Mary Durack, whose family is the division's namesake

The Division is named after the pioneering Durack family, upon whom Dame Mary Durack based her popular historical novels. Created to replace parts of the divisions of Kalgoorlie (which has been abolished) and O'Connor, it elected its first member at the 2010 election.[1] It was created as a comfortably safe Liberal seat. Sitting Kalgoorlie MP Barry Haase contested the seat for the Liberals and won.[2] Haase announced he would not recontest Durack at the next election on 15 June 2013.[3] The seat was won at the 2013 election by Liberal candidate Melissa Price.

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[4]

Durack includes the northern parts of Western Australia, including the northern and central parts of the Wheatbelt, the Mid West, Gascoyne, Pilbara and the Kimberley regions. Populated areas include the city of Geraldton, Broome, Carnarvon, Derby, Dongara, Kalbarri, Karratha, Kununurra, Meekatharra, Merredin, Moora, Mukinbudin, Narembeen, Newman, Port Hedland and Tom Price.

In August 2021, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced that Durack's Wheatbelt Shires of Bruce Rock, Cunderdin, Kellerberrin, Koorda, Kulin, Meekatharra, Merredin, Mount Marshall, Mukinbudin, Narembeen, Nungarin, Quairading, Tammin, Trayning, Westonia, Wyalkatchem and Yilgarn and Durack's Mid West Shire of Wiluna would be transferred to the seat of O'Connor, while the Wheatbelt Shires of Chittering, Gingin, Northam, Toodyay and York would be transferred to Durack from the seat of Pearce. These boundary changes will take place as of the next Australian federal election.[5]

At 1,629,858 km2[6] (64 per cent of the landmass of Western Australia), Durack is the largest electorate in Australia by land area, the largest constituency in the world that practices compulsory voting, and the fourth largest single-member electorate in the world after Yakutsk in Russia, Nunavut in Canada, and Alaska in the United States.[7] It is also larger than all Australian states except for Queensland and Western Australia, and larger than the Northern Territory. Although physically similar in size to Mexico, the electorate has only 300 settlements.[8]

Members
Image Member Party Term Notes
  Barry Haase
(1945–)		 Liberal 21 August 2010 –
5 August 2013		 Previously held the Division of Kalgoorlie. Retired
  Melissa Price
(1963–)		 Liberal 7 September 2013 –
present		 Incumbent. Currently a minister in the Morrison government

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Durack
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in Western Australia § Durack.[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Durack[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Melissa Price 34,429 44.30 +2.56
Labor Sharyn Morrow 16,742 21.54 −4.36
National Scott Bourne 7,878 10.14 −5.84
One Nation Grahame Gould 7,407 9.53 +9.53
Greens Johani Mamid 6,287 8.09 −1.96
Western Australia Gary Mounsey 2,895 3.72 +3.72
United Australia Brenden Hatton 2,083 2.68 +2.68
Total formal votes 77,721 95.23 −0.86
Informal votes 3,892 4.77 +0.86
Turnout 81,613 84.08 +2.05
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Melissa Price 50,332 64.76 +3.70
Labor Sharyn Morrow 27,389 35.24 −3.70
Liberal hold Swing+3.70
Primary vote results in Durack (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Liberal
  Labor
  National
  Greens
  Palmer United/United Australia Party
  One Nation
Two-candidate-preferred results in Durack (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)

See also

References
  1. "Western Australia (2007–08)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. "Haase 'committed' to Goldfields". abc.net.au. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  3. "It's game on in Australia's biggest federal electorate". www.abc.net.au. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  4. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  5. https://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2021/wa/files/redistribution-of-western-australia-into-electoral-divisions-august-2021.pdf
  6. "The massive scale of Australia's election". BBC. 30 June 2016.
  7. Durack: the electorate bigger than many countries still finds it hard to get noticed, The Guardian, 14 May 2016
  8. Taylor, Rob (26 June 2016). "In Australia, This Political Race Covers a Lot of Ground". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  9. Durack, WA, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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