Division of Bruce

The Division of Bruce is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. The division is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It covers an area of approximately Template:Convert including the suburbs of Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, and Template:VICcity; and parts of Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, Template:VICcity, and Template:VICcity.

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

File:Stanley Bruce 1930.jpg

Stanley Bruce, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1955, and is named for Stanley Bruce, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. Unusually, the division was named after a living person, as Bruce did not die until 1967.

Originally, the division was based on Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley, and was a fairly safe seat for the Liberal Party, but it became increasingly marginal in the 1980s. A redistribution in 1996 pushed its boundaries southward, erasing the Liberal majority altogether and making it notionally a Labor seat. Labor took the seat at that year's election even as it was heavily defeated federally, and since then it has been a marginal Labor seat.

Its most prominent member was Sir Billy Snedden, Liberal Party leader from 1972 to 1975 and Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983. At the 2011 Census, the division had the nation's highest proportion of residents born overseas (50.8%), and the third highest proportion born in a non-English speaking country (45.4%). It also has the sixth highest proportion speaking a language other than English at home (51.6%), the highest for any Victorian electorate.

The current Member for Bruce, since the 2016 federal election, is Julian Hill, who is a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Demographics

Bruce is a diverse and socially conservative electorate and is historically working-class. Bruce has three times the proportion of families with Chinese backgrounds as the state average. While a stronghold for the center-left Labor Party, religious migrant communities in the electorate rallied strongly against the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey in 2017, since the survey process was not trusted by both Islamic and Chinese Christian migrant communities, who believe it had been hijacked by out-of-touch inner-city leaders.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
Template:Australian party style|	File:Billy Snedden 1973 (1).jpg	Sir Billy Snedden (1926–1987)	Liberal	10 December 1955 – 21 April 1983	Served as minister under Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton and McMahon. Served as Opposition Leader from 1972 to 1975. Served as Speaker during the Fraser Government. Resigned to retire from politics
Template:Australian party style|	File:Liberal Placeholder.png	Ken Aldred (1945–2016)		28 May 1983 – 24 March 1990	Previously held the Division of Henty. Lost preselection. Transferred to the Division of Deakin
Template:Australian party style|	File:Liberal Placeholder.png	Julian Beale (1934–2021)		24 March 1990 – 2 March 1996	Previously held the Division of Deakin. Lost seat
Template:Australian party style|	File:Alan Griffin MP, Federal Member for Bruce.jpg	Alan Griffin (1960–)	Labor	2 March 1996 – 9 May 2016	Previously held the Division of Corinella. Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Retired
Template:Australian party style|	File:Julian enhanced medium cropped 300 dpi.jpg	Julian Hill (1973–)		2 July 2016 – present	Incumbent

External links

• Division of Bruce - Australian Electoral Commission