Division Of Chisholm

The division was created in 1949 and is named after Caroline Chisholm, a social worker and promoter of women's immigration.

Chisholm Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Chisholm in Victoria, as of the 2022 federal election
Created	1949
MP	Carina Garland
Party	Labor
Namesake	Caroline Chisholm
Electors	109,973 (2022)
Area	65 km2 (25.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Chisholm: Kooyong Menzies Deakin Higgins Chisholm Aston Hotham Hotham Bruce

The Division's current MP is Carina Garland of the Australian Labor Party. The constituency is considered a key marginal constituency targeted by both Labor and the Liberal Party of Australia.

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.

The Division encompasses the suburbs of Ashwood, Blackburn, Blackburn North, Blackburn South, Box Hill, Box Hill North, Box Hill South, Burwood, Burwood East, Kerrimuir, and Laburnum. Additionally, the Division also includes parts of Chadstone, Forest Hill, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Nunawading, Surrey Hills and Syndal.

The Division of Chisholm has a diverse population, with around 54% of its residents being born overseas. Approximately 55% of the population speak a language other than English at home, with Chinese Australians making around 30% of the population. The seat has the largest Chinese community of any electorate in all of Australia.

 

On its original boundaries, it was a comfortably safe Liberal seat centred on Camberwell. However, successive redistributions from 1980 onward have moved the electorate south-east, taking in strongly Labor-voting suburbs to balance out the relatively affluent Liberal-leaning suburbs in the north of the seat, and making the seat marginal. The first member for Chisholm, Sir Wilfrid Kent Hughes, was one of Australia's most distinguished soldiers and a former Olympian, who held the seat until his death on 31 July 1970.

Labor finally took the seat in the 1983 landslide that brought Bob Hawke to power, only to lose it in 1987. Anna Burke became the second Labor member ever to win it in 1998 election and held it until her retirement in 2016. Julia Banks won the seat for the Liberals at the 2016 election, becoming the only Liberal challenger to take a seat from Labor at that election. Taking this seat off Labor turned out to be crucial in ensuring the Coalition retaining its majority; it meant they had 76 seats, as opposed to the 75 they would have had if Labor had retained this seat.

On 27 November 2018, Banks resigned from the Liberal Party due to disaffection with the party resulting from the leadership spill which removed Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister and the treatment of women within the party. Banks announced she would sit on the crossbench as an independent, but guarantee confidence and supply to the Morrison government.

Gladys Liu won Chisholm in the 2019 election for the Liberal Party against Jennifer Yang by less than 0.6%, becoming the first Chinese Australian to enter the lower house.

The loss of the seat in 2022 to Labor has been attributed to the notably large swings against the Liberal Party among Chinese Australian voters which has cost the Liberal Party many key seats.