Division of Denison

This article is about the federal electorate. For the state electorate, see Division of Denison (state).

Denison Australian House of Representatives Division
Map showing the Division of Denison, as of the Australian federal election, 2016.
Created	1903
MP	Andrew Wilkie
Party	Independent
Namesake	William Denison
Electors	74,963 (2016)
Area	288 km2 (111.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

Division of Denison

The Division of Denison is an Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division was one of the five established when the former Division of Tasmania was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir William Denison, who was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1847–55.

The division is located in central Hobart on the western shore of the River Derwent. As at the 2016 election, it incorporates the area covered by the Cities of Hobart and Glenorchy, together with the northern parts of Kingborough Council, including Taroona, generally north of the Huon Highway. kunanyi / Mount Wellington is a prominent physical feature in the division's west.

Denison has been a consistently marginal seat, but was held by the Australian Labor Party between 1987 and 2010 with little difficulty. Its most prominent members have been Sir Philip Fysh, a member of the first federal Cabinet, Athol Townley, Minister for Defence in the Menzies Government, and Duncan Kerr, a minister in the Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments. Townley resigned in 1964 when he was named Ambassador to the United States, but he died before taking up the appointment. Another prominent member is the incumbent independent MP Andrew Wilkie, elected at the 2010 election. Denison has had 16 different members, the most (with Bass, Bendigo and Swan) of any federal electorate.

As part of a 2016-17 redistribution, Denison is to be replaced by the Division of Clark.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Sir Philip Fysh	Protectionist	1903–1906
		Anti-Socialist	1906–1909
		Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1910
	William Laird Smith	Labor	1910–1916
		National Labor	1916–1917
		Nationalist	1917–1922
	David O'Keefe	Labor	1922–1925
	Sir John Gellibrand	Nationalist	1925–1928
	Charles Culley	Labor	1928–1931
	Arthur Hutchin	United Australia	1931–1934
	Gerald Mahoney	Labor	1934–1940
	Arthur Beck	United Australia	1940–1943
	Frank Gaha	Labor	1943–1949
	Athol Townley	Liberal	1949–1963
	Adrian Gibson	Liberal	1964–1969
	Robert Solomon	Liberal	1969–1972
	John Coates	Labor	1972–1975
	Michael Hodgman	Liberal	1975–1987
	Duncan Kerr	Labor	1987–2010
	Andrew Wilkie	Independent	2010–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Denison

Australian federal election, 2016: Denison

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	29,372	44.07	+5.99
	Labor	Jane Austin	15,335	23.01	−1.74
	Liberal	Marcus Allan	13,267	19.90	−3.33
	Greens	Jen Brown	7,068	10.60	+2.68
	Christian Democrats	Amanda Excell	980	1.47	+1.47
	Democratic Labour	Wayne Williams	632	0.95	+0.10
Total formal votes			66,654	97.08	+1.30
Informal votes			2,002	2.92	−1.30
Turnout			68,656	92.82	−1.44
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Jane Austin	43,550	65.34	+6.43
	Liberal	Marcus Allan	23,104	34.66	−6.43
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Andrew Wilkie	45,176	67.78	+2.27
	Labor	Jane Austin	21,478	32.22	−2.27
	Independent hold		Swing	+2.27

External links

• Division of Denison – Australian Electoral Commission