Victorian State Election 2010: Broadmeadows
Electorate: Broadmeadows
Margin: Labor 31.9%
Upper house region: Northern Melbourne
Federal: Calwell/Wills
Click here for Victorian Electoral Commission map
The candidates
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BRUMBY, John
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Electorate analysis: Broadmeadows covers solidly working-class suburbs 15 kilometres north of central Melbourne, and has been in Labor’s hands since 1962. John Brumby came to the seat when it was agreed stop-gap Labor leader Jim Kennan would abandon it to allow him to assume the leadership. Brumby was at the point member for the province of Doutta Galla, which he had won at a March 1993 by-election following the retirement of Right faction colleague Bill Landeryou. He had previously been the federal member for Bendigo from the election of the Hawke government in 1983, but lost the seat in the Victorian anti-Labor swing of 1990.
Labor achieved a 2.8 per cent statewide swing under Brumby’s leadership at the 1996 election, but this came from a low base and produced a net gain of only two seats. After failing to keep a lid on factional and union unrest, Brumby was persuaded to step aside in favour of Steve Bracks in March 1999. With Bracks’s election victory later in the year, Brumby became Finance Minister, Assistant Treasurer and Regional Development Minister. While Bracks held the title of Treasurer for the government’s first eight months, Brumby reportedly bore most of the workload and the role was officially conferred upon him in May 2000. When Bracks made his surprise resignation announcement in late July 2007, Brumby was anointed as his successor by both Bracks and his outgoing deputy John Thwaites, and he duly elected as party leader without opposition.
Analysis written by William Bowe. Read William’s blog, The Poll Bludger.