South Barwon is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n state of Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. Located in a mixed urban and rural area south of the Barwon River

Barwon River (Victoria)

The Barwon River rises in the Otway Ranges of Victoria, Australia, runs through Winchelsea and the city of Geelong, where it is joined by the Moorabool River, and enters the sea at Barwon Heads after passing through Lake Connewarre on the Bellarine Peninsula...

, it covers an area of 621km², including the Geelong suburbs of Belmont

Belmont, Victoria

Belmont is a southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The name means "beautiful hill". Belmont is geographically separated from the Geelong central business district by the Barwon River. The suburb is primarily residential, with some light industry along Barwon Heads Road...

 and Grovedale

Grovedale, Victoria

Grovedale is a mainly residential southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.The suburb is bounded by the Waurn Ponds Creek, Rossack Drive, Boundary Road and Barwarre Road.-Toponomy:...

, Waurn Ponds

Waurn Ponds, Victoria

Waurn Ponds is a mainly residential southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.The suburb is bounded by Rossack Drive, Princes Highway, the Geelong to Warnambool railway, Reservoir Road, Draytons Road, Pigdons Road, Deakin University and Honeys Road....

 and part of Highton

Highton, Victoria

Highton is a residential suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is bordered by the Barrabool Hills and Wandana Heights to the west, the Barwon River to the north and east, the former Kardinia Creek to the south-east, and the Princes Highway and Pigdons Road to the south.-History:Grazier John...

, the coastal centres of Torquay

Torquay, Victoria

Torquay is a township in Victoria, Australia, which faces Bass Strait, 21 km. south of Geelong and is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. It is bordered on the west by Spring Creek and its coastal features include Point Danger and Zeally Bay...

 and Barwon Heads

Barwon Heads, Victoria

Barwon Heads is a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the west bank of the mouth of the Barwon River below Lake Connewarre, while it is bounded to the west by farmland, golf courses and the ephemeral saline wetland Murtnaghurt...

, and the rural towns of Barrabool, Bellbrae

Bellbrae, Victoria

Bellbrae is a bounded rural locality in Victoria, Australia located on the Great Ocean Road between Torquay and Anglesea. At the 2006 census, Bellbrae had a population of 1,388.-History:...

, Connewarre

Connewarre, Victoria

Connewarre, Victoria, Australia, is located in southern Australia in an area that is sparsely populated. At the 2006 census, Connewarre and the surrounding area had a population of 78....

, Gnarwarre, Modewarre, Moriac

Moriac, Victoria

Moriac is a rural town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately west of Geelong. It forms part of the Surf Coast Shire. At the 2006 census, Moriac had a population of 594....

 and Mount Moriac. The electorate had a population of 52,241 as of the 2001 census.

South Barwon was created in 1976 as a predominantly rural seat which was considered safe for the conservative Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

. It was won by Liberal Aurel Smith, formerly the member for Bellarine

Electoral district of Bellarine

The Electoral district of Bellarine is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. The electorate contains some of the eastern suburbs of Geelong and much of the Bellarine Peninsula after which the electorate is named....

, upon its inception, and retained for the party by Harley Dickinson

Harley Dickinson

Harley Rivers Dickinson was an Australian politician.Dickinson was born in Richmond in Melbourne to Rivers Arthur Dickinson, a solicitor, and Dolina Marion Arbuckle. He attended Croydon State School and then Geelong College, and also graduated from the Australian School of Pacific Administration...

 upon Smith's retirement in 1982. Dickinson held the seat until 1992, when he quit the party and attempted to retain the seat as an independent, but lost to endorsed Liberal candidate and former television newsreader Alister Paterson

Alister Paterson

Alister Irvine Paterson is a former Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for South Barwon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 2002.Paterson was born in Melbourne to John Austin Paterson and Marjorie Webber Ball...

. The seat underwent significant demographic change during Paterson's tenure, with major population growth in the traditionally Labor-voting areas of Torquay, Barwon Heads and southern Geelong, causing the seat to become progressively less safe for the Liberal Party. These changes came to a head at the 2002 election, when Labor nominated former Geelong mayor Michael Crutchfield

Michael Crutchfield

Michael Crutchfield is an Australian politician. He was formerly the member for South Barwon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.-Early life:...

 as its candidate, and amidst a statewide landslide victory, succeeded in taking South Barwon for the first time in its history. Crutchfield was re-elected in 2006, but lost in 2010 to local councillor and Liberal candidate Andrew Katos

Andrew Katos

Andrew Katos is an Australian politician, and has been the member for South Barwon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2010.-References:...

.

Members for South Barwon

	Member	Party	Term
	Aurel Smith	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1976–1982
	Harley Dickinson Harley Dickinson Harley Rivers Dickinson was an Australian politician.Dickinson was born in Richmond in Melbourne to Rivers Arthur Dickinson, a solicitor, and Dolina Marion Arbuckle. He attended Croydon State School and then Geelong College, and also graduated from the Australian School of Pacific Administration...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1982–1992
		Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1992–1992
	Alister Paterson Alister Paterson Alister Irvine Paterson is a former Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for South Barwon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1992 to 2002.Paterson was born in Melbourne to John Austin Paterson and Marjorie Webber Ball...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1992–2002
	Michael Crutchfield Michael Crutchfield Michael Crutchfield is an Australian politician. He was formerly the member for South Barwon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.-Early life:...	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	2002–2010
	Andrew Katos Andrew Katos Andrew Katos is an Australian politician, and has been the member for South Barwon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2010.-References:...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	2010–present

Election results