Division of Gorton

The Division of Gorton is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria.

Gorton Australian House of Representatives Division
From the 2022 federal election to 2025 From the 2025 federal election Interactive map of electorate boundaries
Created	2004
MP	Brendan O'Connor
Party	Labor
Namesake	Sir John Gorton
Electors	110,928 (2022)
Area	217 km2 (83.8 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer metropolitan

History

Sir John Gorton, the division's namesake

The division was created in 2004 to replace the abolished Division of Burke, and is named in honour Sir John Gorton, who served as the 19th prime Minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971. Gorton had served in the Senate from 1949 to 1968, before switching houses to represent the Victorian federal seat of Higgins until 1975.

The constituency of Gorton features a high proportion of young families and new suburban developments in the working-class outer western suburbs of the Melbourne metropolitan area.

Burke had been held by the Australian Labor Party for its entire existence, though it had become increasingly marginal since the 1980s. On its creation, it was a comfortably safe Labor seat with a majority of almost 20 percent. The last member for Burke, Brendan O'Connor, successfully transferred to Gorton in the 2004 federal election with only a small swing against him. He has held it ever since on fairly safe to safe margins.

Boundaries

Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia are 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]

Gorton is located in the outer western suburbs of Melbourne. As of 2021, it includes the suburbs of Aintree, Bonnie Brook, Burnside, Burnside Heights, Caroline Springs, Deanside, Deer Park, Delahey, Grangefields, Fieldstone, Fraser Rise, Keilor, Keilor Downs, Kings Park, Ravenhall, Rockbank, Sydenham, Taylors Hill, Taylors Lakes, Thornhill Park, Truganina and parts of Deer Park, Derrimut, Hillside and Mount Cottrell.^[2][3]

It previously included the suburbs of Albanvale, Brookfield, Cairnlea, Cobblebank, Harkness, Kurunjang, Melton, Melton South, Plumpton and Strathtulloh; parts of Diggers Rest, Parwan, and Toolern Vale; as well as the townships of Exford and Eynesbury prior to past redistributions.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Brendan O'Connor (1962–)	Labor	9 October 2004 – 28 March 2025	Previously held the Division of Burke. Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Served as minister under Albanese. Retired

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Gorton

2025 Australian federal election: Gorton^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Legalise Cannabis	Xavier Menta
	Libertarian	Rob McCathie
	Labor	Alice Jordan-Baird
	Family First	Kathrine Ashton
	Liberal	John Fletcher
	One Nation	Alan Reid
	Greens	Thuc Bao Huynh
Total formal votes
Informal votes
Turnout

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

2022 Australian federal election: Gorton^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Brendan O'Connor	38,178	41.30	−10.13
	Liberal	John Fletcher	25,350	27.42	−0.56
	Greens	Praise Morris	8,325	9.01	+1.58
	United Australia	Michael Virag	7,082	7.66	+0.36
	One Nation	Daniel Connor	6,719	7.27	+7.27
	Independent	Steven Loncar	2,341	2.53	+2.53
	Victorian Socialists	Belle Gibson	2,064	2.23	+2.23
	Great Australian	Tony Dobran	1,312	1.42	+0.64
	Federation	Paul Lassig	1,063	1.15	+1.15
Total formal votes			92,434	92.88	−1.04
Informal votes			7,089	7.12	+1.04
Turnout			99,523	89.77	−1.24
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Brendan O'Connor	55,434	59.97	−4.27
	Liberal	John Fletcher	37,000	40.03	+4.27
	Labor hold		Swing	−4.27

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in Victoria § Gorton.[edit]

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Gorton in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.