Division of Melbourne

This article is about the Australian federal electorate. For the Victorian state electorate, see Electoral district of Melbourne.

The Division of Melbourne is an Australian electoral division in the State of Victoria, represented since the 2025 election by Sarah Witty, a member of the Labor Party.

Melbourne Australian House of Representatives Division
From the 2022 federal election to 2025 From the 2025 federal election Interactive map of electorate boundaries
Created	1901
MP	Sarah Witty
Party	Labor
Namesake	Melbourne
Electors	114,447 (2025)
Area	40 km2 (15.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan

The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The Division of Melbourne encompasses the City of Melbourne and the suburbs of Abbotsford, Burnley, Carlton, Collingwood, Cremorne, Docklands, East Melbourne, Fitzroy, North Melbourne, Parkville, Prahran, Princes Hill, Richmond, South Yarra and West Melbourne. The area has heavy and light engineering, extensive manufacturing, commercial and retail activities (including Melbourne markets and central business district), dockyards, clothing and footwear industries, warehousing and distributing of whitegoods, building and other general goods. This capital city electorate's northern boundary is formed by Maribyrnong Road, Ormond Road, Park Street, Sydney Road and Glenlyon Road between the Yarra River, Maribyrnong River and Merri Creek. The division also contains the main Parkville Campus of the University of Melbourne.

Melbourne has the highest proportion of Greens first party preferences relative to any other federal division. Melbourne also has a higher than average university education rate, with 44.8% of electors holding a bachelor's degree or above.^[1]

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.^[2]

Melbourne contains large sections of the cities of Melbourne and Yarra, bounded by the Yarra River and St Kilda Road to the south and Moonee Ponds Creek, Park Street, Royal Parade, and Alexandra Parade to the north. It also contains South Yarra and a portion of Prahran in the City of Stonnington.^[3]

History

The city of Melbourne, the division's namesake

Melbourne was held by the Australian Labor Party for almost all of its history. Labor first won the seat at a 1904 by-election, and held it for over a century, with former Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell the highest profile member. For most of the time from 1907 to 2004, it was one of Labor's safest seats. During this time, Labor's hold on the seat was only remotely threatened once, when Calwell saw his majority trimmed to 57.2 percent amidst the Coalition's landslide victory in 1966. This is still the closest that the conservative parties have come to winning the seat in over a century.

At the 2007 election, Melbourne became a marginal seat for the first time in a century, even as Labor won a decisive victory nationally. Greens candidate Adam Bandt taking second place on a two candidate preferred basis, leaving Labor with 54.71 percent of the vote. On a "traditional" two party preferred basis with the Liberals, Labor finished with 72.27, an increase of 1.13 percentage points.^[4]

At the 2010 election however, following the retirement of former member and Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner, Labor lost Melbourne to the Greens on a large swing, with Bandt far outpolling the Liberals and securing victory over Labor candidate Cath Bowtell.^[5] Bandt retained his seat in 2013, 2016 and 2019, with an increase in his primary vote share on each occasion. In 2016 and 2019, he actually pushed Labor into third place.

In 2017, the division had the highest percentage of "Yes" responses in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 83.7% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "Yes" in favour of same-sex marriage. Additionally, in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, the division had the highest percentage of "Yes" responses of any Australian division, with 78.04% of votes cast responding "Yes" in favour of the proposal.

The division returned the highest 'Yes' vote in the 1999 referendum on Australia becoming a republic.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Sir Malcolm McEacharn (1852–1910)	Protectionist	29 March 1901 – 10 March 1904	1903 election results declared void. Lost seat in subsequent by-election
		William Maloney (1854–1940)	Labor	30 March 1904 – 27 August 1940	Previously held the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of West Melbourne. Retired
		Arthur Calwell (1896–1973)		21 September 1940 – 2 November 1972	Served as minister under Curtin, Forde and Chifley. Served as Opposition Leader from 1960 to 1967. Retired
		Ted Innes (1925–2010)		2 December 1972 – 4 February 1983	Lost preselection and retired
		Gerry Hand (1942–2023)		5 March 1983 – 8 February 1993	Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Retired
		Lindsay Tanner (1956–)		13 March 1993 – 19 July 2010	Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Retired
		Adam Bandt (1972–)	Greens	21 August 2010 – 3 May 2025	Leader of the Greens (2020–2025). Lost seat
		Sarah Witty (1972–)	Labor	3 May 2025 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Melbourne

2025 Australian federal election: Melbourne^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Greens	Adam Bandt	34,859	39.89	−4.84
	Labor	Sarah Witty	27,406	31.36	+5.70
	Liberal	Steph Hunt	17,001	19.45	−0.08
	Independent	Anthony Koutoufides	2,853	3.26	+3.26
	One Nation	Melanie Casey	2,124	2.43	+1.59
	Fusion	Helen Huang	1,726	1.97	+1.97
	Independent	Tim Smith	1,427	1.63	+1.63
Total formal votes			87,396	97.62	+0.64
Informal votes			2,134	2.38	−0.64
Turnout			89,530	78.95	−9.10
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Sarah Witty	46,213	52.88	+8.46
	Greens	Adam Bandt	41,183	47.12	−8.46
	Labor gain from Greens		Swing	+8.46

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

Results are not final. Last updated on 15 May 2025 at 10:15 PM AEST.

See also

• Division of Maranoa (Electorate with the Highest percentage of "No" responses in the republic referendum and Indigenous Voice referendum)