# Division of Fremantle

The Division of Fremantle is an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives in Western Australia.

## 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.

## History

The division was created at Federation in 1900 and was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the city of Fremantle, which in turn is named for Captain Charles Fremantle, captain of HMS Challenger, who took formal possession of the west coast of New Holland in the name of His Majesty the King. This action cleared the way for the arrival of Captain James Stirling and the first party of Swan River Colony settlers a few weeks later.
As originally drawn, the Division of Fremantle included nearly all of Perth's south-of-the-river suburbs, plus the western suburbs south from Mt Claremont and Nedlands. On these boundaries, the seat frequently changed hands between the Australian Labor Party and the conservative parties for the first three decades of its existence. However, Labor has held the seat without interruption since 1934, and for all but one term since 1928. The 1949 expansion of Parliament made Fremantle even safer for Labor by shifting most of its northern portion to the newly created Division of Curtin. Since then, it has usually been one of the safest Labor seats in Australia. It was nearly lost in the landslides of 1975 and 1977, but since the 1980 redistribution when the suburbs of Mosman Park, Peppermint Grove and Cottesloe were transferred to the Division of Curtin, the Liberals have only twice garnered 45 percent of the two-party vote, in 1996 and 2013.
Since World War II, Fremantle has been held by a succession of senior Labor figures. The seat's best-known member was John Curtin, who was Prime Minister from 1941 to 1945. Other high-profile members were Kim Beazley Sr., a minister in the Whitlam government; John Dawkins, a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments; and Carmen Lawrence, who served as the Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993 and who subsequently served as a minister in the Keating government. Lawrence retired at the 2007 election. She was succeeded by Melissa Parke, a former United Nations lawyer and a minister in the second Rudd government.
In the 2021 redistribution, the electoral boundaries of Fremantle were left unchanged. Consequently, the 2016 boundaries continued to apply as of the 2022 election.

## Location

The Division is located in the southern suburbs of Perth. As at the 2022 election, it includes the following suburbs:

### City of Cockburn

* Atwell
* Aubin Grove
* Banjup
* Beeliar
* Bibra Lake
* Cockburn Central
* Coogee
* Coolbellup
* Hamilton Hill
* Hammond Park
* Henderson
* Jandakot
* Lake Coogee
* Munster
* North Coogee
* North Lake
* Rottnest Island
* South Lake
* Spearwood
* Success
* Treeby
* Wattleup
* Yangebup

### Town of East Fremantle

* East Fremantle

### City of Fremantle

* Beaconsfield
* Fremantle
* Hilton
* North Fremantle
* O'Connor
* Samson
* South Fremantle
* White Gum Valley

### City of Melville

* Palmyra
* Kardinya (part)
* Leeming (part)

## Members

| Image | Member | Party | Term | Notes |
| | Elias Solomon (1839–1909) | Free Trade | 29 March 1901 – 16 December 1903 | Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of South Fremantle. Lost seat |
| | William Carpenter (1863–1930) | Labour | 16 December 1903 – 12 December 1906 | Previously held the South Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Encounter Bay. Lost seat. Later elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Fremantle in 1911 |
| | William Hedges (1856–1935) | Anti-Socialist | 12 December 1906 – 26 May 1909 | Lost seat |
| | William Hedges (1856–1935) | Liberal | 26 May 1909 – 31 May 1913 | Lost seat |
| | Reginald Burchell (1883–1955) | Labor | 31 May 1913 – 14 November 1916 | Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Hughes. Retired |
| | Reginald Burchell (1883–1955) | National Labor | 14 November 1916 – 17 February 1917 | Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Hughes. Retired |
| | Reginald Burchell (1883–1955) | Nationalist | 17 February 1917 – 6 November 1922 | Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Hughes. Retired |
| | William Watson (1864–1938) | Independent | 16 December 1922 – 9 October 1928 | Retired |
| | John Curtin (1885–1945) | Labor | 17 November 1928 – 19 December 1931 | Lost seat |
| | William Watson (1864–1938) | United Australia | 19 December 1931 – 7 August 1934 | Retired |
| | John Curtin (1885–1945) | Labor | 15 September 1934 – 5 July 1945 | Served as Opposition Leader from 1935 to 1941. Served as Prime Minister from 1941 to 1945. Died in office |
| | Kim Beazley (1917–2007) | Labor | 18 August 1945 – 10 November 1977 | Served as minister under Whitlam. Retired |
| | John Dawkins (1947–) | Labor | 10 December 1977 – 4 February 1994 | Previously held the Division of Tangney. Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Resigned to retire from politics |
| | Carmen Lawrence (1948–) | Labor | 12 March 1994 – 17 October 2007 | Previously held the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Glendalough. Served as Premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993. Served as minister under Keating. Retired |
| | Melissa Parke (1966–) | Labor | 24 November 2007 – 9 May 2016 | Served as minister under Rudd. Retired |
| | Josh Wilson (1972–) | Labor | 2 July 2016 – 10 May 2018 | Election results declared void due to dual citizenship. Subsequently re-elected. Incumbent |
| 28 July 2018 – present | Josh Wilson (1972–) | Labor | | Election results declared void due to dual citizenship. Subsequently re-elected. Incumbent |

## Election results

2022 Australian federal election: Fremantle :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labor | Josh Wilson | 43,111 | 43.97 | +5.95 |
| | Liberal | Bill Koul | 23,749 | 24.22 | −10.75 |
| | Greens | Felicity Townsend | 17,790 | 18.14 | +2.14 |
| | One Nation | William Edgar | 3,060 | 3.12 | −0.71 |
| | Great Australian | Ben Tilbury | 2,293 | 2.34 | +2.34 |
| | Western Australia | Janetia Knapp | 2,248 | 2.29 | −0.27 |
| | United Australia | Stella Jinman | 2,000 | 2.04 | +0.10 |
| | Federation | Cathy Gavranich | 1,367 | 1.39 | +1.39 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Yan Loh | 1,251 | 1.28 | +1.28 |
| | Socialist Alliance | Sam Wainwright | 1,184 | 1.21 | +0.12 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 98,053 | 94.21 | −0.39 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 6,025 | 5.79 | +0.39 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 104,078 | 89.12 | −2.11 |
| Two-party-preferred result ||||||
| | Labor | Josh Wilson | 65,585 | 66.89 | +9.97 |
| | Liberal | Bill Koul | 32,468 | 33.11 | −9.97 |
| | Labor hold | Labor hold | Swing | +9.97 | |