page_title: Division of Melbourne
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Division of Melbourne / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Melbourne aerial
context_page_description: The Division of Melbourne is an Australian electoral division in the State of Victoria, represented since the 2010 election by Adam Bandt, leader of the Australian Greens.
  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, Ascot Vale, Burnley, Carlton, Carlton North, Collingwood, Cremorne, Docklands, East Melbourne, Fitzroy, Fitzroy North, Flemington, Kensington, North Melbourne, Parkville, Princes Hill, Richmond, Travancore and West Melbourne. The area has heavy and light engineering, extensive manufacturing, commercial and retail activities, 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.
context_section_description: Melbourne was held by the Australian Labor Party for the better part 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.
  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. 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. Despite this, the seat still remains a very safe Labor seat in "traditional" two-party matchups against the Liberals.
  Notably 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.
caption: The city of Melbourne, the division's namesake
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