Division of Gellibrand

The Division of Gellibrand (/dʒɛlibrænd/) is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1949 and is named after Joseph Gellibrand, a pioneer settler of the Melbourne area. It is located in the industrial inner western suburbs of Melbourne.

Gellibrand Australian House of Representatives Division
Interactive map of electorate boundaries from the 2025 federal election
Created	1949
MP	Tim Watts
Party	Labor
Namesake	Joseph Gellibrand
Electors	118,992 (2025)
Area	144 km2 (55.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Gellibrand: Gorton Fraser Fraser Lalor Gellibrand Port Phillip Lalor Port Phillip Port Phillip

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.^[1]

Gellibrand is located in the industrial inner western suburbs of Melbourne and includes Altona, Altona North, Altona Meadows, Kingsville, Laverton, Laverton North, Newport, Seabrook, Seaholme, Seddon, South Kingsville, Williams Landing, Williamstown and Williamstown North; and parts of Point Cook and Truganina.

History

Joseph Gellibrand, the division's namesake

The Division has been held by the Australian Labor Party for its entire existence; it is located in Labor's traditional heartland of western Melbourne, and is characterised by a very diverse, multicultural population. Labor has never tallied less than 60 percent of the two-party vote, and until 2010 always won an outright majority on first preferences alone.

Its most prominent members have been Ralph Willis, a Cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, and Nicola Roxon, a Cabinet minister in the Rudd government and the Gillard government and first female Attorney-General.

In recent years there has been considerable gentrification in the inner-city suburbs such as Footscray, Williamstown and Yarraville, and a consequent rise in the progressive Greens vote, which rose to 37 percent in Footscray in the 2013 election. In the west, a solid patch of working-class suburbia remain strongly Labor-leaning.

For several years, Gellibrand was Labor's safest seat in the Federal Parliament. The current member for Gellibrand since the 2013 election is Labor's Tim Watts.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Jack Mullens (1896–1978)	Labor	10 December 1949 – April 1955	Previously held the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Footscray. Did not contest and failed to win the Division of Melbourne in 1955
			Labor (Anti-Communist)	April 1955 – 10 December 1955
		Hector McIvor (1900–1992)	Labor	10 December 1955 – 2 November 1972	Retired
		Ralph Willis (1938–)		2 December 1972 – 31 August 1998	Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Retired
		Nicola Roxon (1967–)		3 October 1998 – 5 August 2013	Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Retired
		Tim Watts (1982–)		7 September 2013 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Gellibrand

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in Victoria § Gellibrand.[edit]

2025 Australian federal election: Gellibrand^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Tim Watts	49,044	46.62	+3.81
	Liberal	Ben Reeson	27,539	26.18	−1.03
	Greens	Ponraj Krishna Pandi	17,933	17.05	+1.47
	One Nation	Stephen Bennett	6,290	5.98	+2.87
	Family First	Jo Garcia	4,396	4.18	+4.18
Total formal votes			105,202	96.75	+1.72
Informal votes			3,538	3.25	−1.72
Turnout			108,740	91.41	+7.81
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Tim Watts	68,489	65.10	+3.90
	Liberal	Ben Reeson	36,713	34.90	−3.90
	Labor hold		Swing	+3.90