Division of Fowler

The Division of Fowler is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Fowler is based in Sydney's outer southwestern suburbs of Liverpool, Warwick Farm, Chipping Norton, Cabramatta, Canley Vale, Mount Pritchard, Abbotsbury, Bossley Park, Edensor Park, Greenfield Park, Prairiewood, St Johns Park, Wakeley, Bonnyrigg, Canley Heights, Carramar and Fairfield East.

Fowler is a diverse electorate, containing immigrant communities of Vietnamese and Chinese ancestry. According to the Template:CensusAU, 39.1% of electors were born in Australia, 16.0% were born in Vietnam and 2.0% were born in China (excluding SARs and Taiwan). At the time of the 2022 Australian federal election, 16% of Fowler's population possessed Vietnamese ancestry, and 11% possessed Chinese heritage.

The current MP is Dai Le, who was elected as an independent in 2022. She is the first non-Labor politician to represent Fowler. Le has strong links to the Vietnamese community in Fowler; she was born in Vietnam and migrated to Australia as an eleven year old after three years in a Philippines refugee camp.

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.

The division includes the Sydney suburbs of Cabramatta, Cabramatta West, Canley Heights, Chipping Norton, Edensor Park, Fairfield East, Greenfield Park, Liverpool, St Johns Park, Wakeley, and Warwick Farm; as well as parts of Abbotsbury, Bonnyrigg, Bossley Park, Canley Vale, Carramar, Fairfield, Fairfield West, Guildford, Moorebank, Mount Pritchard, Prairiewood, Wetherill Park and Yennora.

History

File:Alderman Lilian Fowler JP Mayor of Newtown c. 1938.png

Lilian Fowler, the division's namesake

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Lilian Fowler, the first female mayor in Australia.

The member for Fowler from the 2010 federal election to the 2022 federal election has been Chris Hayes, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

2022 election

After announcing that he would retire at the 2022 federal election, Hayes endorsed Tu Le, a locally resident lawyer, to succeed him. A factional dispute involving winnable seats on the Senate ticket saw Senator Kristina Keneally parachuted into the election for the "safe" seat in order to resolve the dispute. It would also allow Keneally to serve on the ministerial or shadow frontbench following the election. Keneally's move was heavily criticised both in the community and within the party for her decision to usurp the position of a local candidate, with Keneally living on Scotland Island on Sydney's Northern Beaches, over an hour's drive from the electorate.

Dai Le, a local independent who was serving as the deputy mayor of the Fairfield City Council announced her intention to stand for the seat. Le had been a Liberal Party member earlier in her career until her expulsion from the party as her bid for mayor breached party rules regarding running against an endorsed candidate.

Le won the seat after a significant swing against Labor. Keneally's higher first preference vote was not high enough to prevent Le from winning on the two-candidate-preferred count. After Le relegated the Liberal Party to third place, she received most preferences from the voters of three right-wing minor parties and some Greens voters. When the majority of Liberal voter preferences also flowed to Le, she overtook the primary vote of Labor, ending their run of 13 consecutive victories in Fowler.

In April 2025, Anthony Albanese visited Cabramatta Public School with Tu Le, who became the Labor candidate. During that visit he conceded that selecting Keneally for Fowler was a mistake.

Demographics

Population

The population as at the 2021 Census in the division of Fowler was 173,523 people.

People Persons count based on place of usual residence on Census night	Fowler	%
Male	85,684	49.4
Female	87,839	50.6
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people	1,494	0.9
Total	173,523	100

The Division of Fowler is one of Australia's most multicultural communities with a very high percentage of migrants and first generation Australians. As at the 2021 Census the breakdown of country of birth was;

Country of birth	Fowler	%
Australia	67,784	39.1
Other top responses
Vietnam	17,813	16.0
Iraq	15,022	8.7
Cambodia	5,708	3.3
China (excluding SARs and Taiwan)	3,464	2.0
Syria	2,561	1.5

Fowler has a high multicultural population compared to the national and state averages. 77.3% of the population of Fowler had both parents born overseas. While the general percentage of all Australians with both parents born overseas is 36.7%.

Country of birth of parents, stated responses	Fowler	%	New South Wales	%	Australia	%
Both parents born overseas	134,212	77.3	3,181,894	39.4	9,321,603	36.7
Father only born overseas	5,811	3.3	509,789	6.3	1,670,476	6.6
Mother only born overseas	4,176	2.4	369,492	4.6	1,257,942	4.9
Both parents born in Australia	16,758	9.7	3,529,168	43.7	11,663,577	45.9

Median weekly income

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Fowler (Commonwealth Electoral Division) as at the 2021 Census was lower than the national and state averages.

Median weekly incomes People aged 15 years and over	Fowler	New South Wales	Australia
Personal	521	813	805
Family	1,529	2,185	2,120
Household	1,403	1,829	1,746

Employment

There were 62,077 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before census night in Fowler (Commonwealth Electoral Division). Of these, 47.8% were employed full time, 26.3% were employed part-time and 8.6% were unemployed. Unemployment is significantly higher that the New South Wales state average of 4.9% and the national average of 5.1%

Employment People who reported being in the labour force, aged 15 years and over	Fowler	%	New South Wales	%	Australia	%
Worked full-time	29,681	47.8	2,136,610	55.2	7,095,103	55.9
Worked part-time	16,320	26.3	2,136,610	29.7	3,962,550	31.2
Away from work	10,723	17.3	395,888	10.2	991,758	7.8
Unemployed	5,354	8.6	189,852	4.9	646,442	5.1

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
Template:Australian party style|	File:Labor Placeholder.png	Ted Grace (1931–2020)	Labor	1 December 1984 – 31 August 1998	Retired
Template:Australian party style|	File:Julia Irwin MP 2005.jpg	Julia Irwin (1951–)		3 October 1998 – 19 July 2010	Retired
Template:Australian party style|	File:Labor Placeholder.png	Chris Hayes (1955–)		21 August 2010 – 11 April 2022	Previously held the Division of Werriwa. Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Gillard and Rudd. Retired
Template:Australian party style|	Template:CSS image crop	Dai Le (1968–)	Independent	21 May 2022 – present	Incumbent

External links

• Division of Fowler – Australian Electoral Commission