Division of Aston

Aston Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Aston in Victoria, as of the 2022 federal election
Created	1984
MP	Mary Doyle
Party	Labor
Namesake	Tilly Aston
Electors	109,705 (2022)
Area	113 km^2 (43.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer metropolitan

The Division of Aston is an Australian Federal Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. The division is located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, coextensive with the City of Knox local government area. The suburbs in the division include Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Knoxfield, Rowville, Scoresby, The Basin, Wantirna and Wantirna South; and parts of Lysterfield, Sassafras and Upper Ferntree Gully.

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.^[1]

History

Tilly Aston, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Tilly Aston, a blind writer and teacher who helped found the Library of the Victorian Association of Braille Writers in 1894.

The current for Aston is Mary Doyle of the Australian Labor Party, elected on 1 April 2023 in the 2023 Aston by-election.

A typical "mortgage belt" seat, it was held by the Labor Party until 1990, but was from then until 2023 it was held by the Liberal Party. At the 2022 Australian federal election it was the Liberal Party’s safest seat in metropolitan Melbourne.^[2] However, the seat became marginal at that election, with the Liberals experiencing a 11.64% drop in their primary vote and a 7.32% drop in their two-party vote. The very next year, the Australian Labor Party regained the seat from the Liberal Party following the 2023 by-election.^[3]

Aston has one of the biggest Chinese-Australian communities in Victoria, with more than 22,500 Chinese residents, or about 14 per cent of the electorate's population.^[4][5]

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		John Saunderson (1948–)	Labor	1 December 1984 – 24 March 1990	Previously held the Division of Deakin. Lost seat
		Peter Nugent (1938–2001)	Liberal	24 March 1990 – 24 April 2001	Died in office
		Chris Pearce (1963–)		14 July 2001 – 19 July 2010	Retired
		Alan Tudge (1971–)		21 August 2010 – 17 February 2023[6]	Served as minister under Turnbull and Morrison. Resigned in order to retire from politics.
		Mary Doyle (1970–)	Labor	1 April 2023 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Aston

This section is an excerpt from 2023 Aston by-election § Results.[edit]

2023 Aston by-election ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Mary Doyle	37,318	40.87	+8.32
	Liberal	Roshena Campbell	35,680	39.07	–3.98
	Greens	Angelica Di Camillo	9,256	10.14	–1.94
	Independent	Maya Tesa	6,426	7.04	+7.04
	Fusion	Owen Miller	2,637	2.89	+2.89
Total formal votes			91,317	96.70	−0.03
Informal votes			3,112	3.30	+0.03
Turnout			94,429	85.64	−6.86
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Mary Doyle	48,915	53.57	+6.38
	Liberal	Roshena Campbell	42,402	46.43	–6.38
	Labor gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.38

Primary vote results in Aston (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted.)

  Liberal

  Labor

  Greens

  Australian Democrats

  Palmer United/United Australia Party

  Independent

Two-candidate-preferred results in Aston

References

1. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
2. "Election 2022: Victoria becomes key state for Labor as Liberal Party loses heartland seats".
3. "Labor's Mary Doyle snatches historic victory in Aston by-election in Melbourne's outer east". ABC News. April 2023.
4. Xiao, Bang. "Chinese-Australians' political awakening was a big factor in Labor's win in Aston". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
5. Yu, Andi. "Labor's Mary Doyle snatches historic victory in Aston by-election in Melbourne's outer east". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
6. "Aston By-Election". Parliament of Australia. 17 February 2023. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
7. "Aston, VIC". Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 8 May 2023.

External links

• Division of Aston – Australian Electoral Commission

37.892°S 145.240°E / -37.892; 145.240