Electoral region of South West

The electoral region of South West is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council the South West, Peel and part of the Great Southern regions of the state. It was created by the Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987, and became effective on 22 May 1989 with seven members who had been elected at the 1989 state election three months earlier. At the 2008 election, it was reduced to six members. The region includes the cities of Albany, Bunbury and Mandurah.

Geography

The Region is made up of several complete Legislative Assembly districts, which change at each distribution.

Redistribution	Period	Electoral districts	Electors	% of State	Area
29 April 1988	22 May 1989–22 May 1997	Albany, Bunbury, Collie, Mandurah, Mitchell, Murray, Stirling, Vasse, Warren, Wellington (10)	99,510	10.94%	43,659 km2 (16,857 sq mi)
28 November 1994	22 May 1997–22 May 2005	Albany, Bunbury, Collie, Dawesville, Mandurah, Mitchell, Murray-Wellington, Stirling, Vasse, Warren-Blackwood (10)	121,408	11.74%	43,659 km2 (16,857 sq mi)
4 August 2003	22 May 2005–22 May 2009	Albany, Bunbury, Capel, Collie-Wellington, Dawesville, Leschenault, Mandurah, Murray, Stirling, Vasse, Warren-Blackwood (11)	152,494	12.55%	37,493 km2 (14,476 sq mi)
29 October 2007	22 May 2009–22 May 2017	Albany, Blackwood-Stirling, Bunbury, Collie-Preston, Dawesville, Mandurah, Murray-Wellington, Vasse (8)	167,871	13.33%	41,008 km2 (15,833 sq mi)

Representation

Distribution of seats

As 7-member seat: Election Seats won 1989–1993               1993–1997               1997–2001               2001–2005               2005–2009               As 6-member seat: Election Seats won 2009–2013             2013–2017

Legend:   Labor   Liberal   National   Greens WA   One Nation

Members

Since its creation, the electorate has had 17 members. Four of these members had previously been members of the Legislative Council—Beryl Jones (Lower West Province), Bill Stretch (Lower Central Province), Doug Wenn and Barry House (both South West Province).

		Seven member seat					Six member seat
Member	Party	1989–93	1993–97	1997–01	2001–05	2005–09	2009–13	2013-17
Beryl Jones	Labor
Doug Wenn	Labor
Bob Thomas	Labor
John Cowdell	Labor
Matt Benson-Lidholm	Labor
Adele Farina	Labor
Sally Talbot	Labor
Dr Chrissy Sharp	Greens
Paul Llewellyn	Greens
Barry House	Liberal
Muriel Patterson	Liberal
Bill Stretch	Liberal
Robyn McSweeney	Liberal
Nigel Hallett	Liberal
Murray Montgomery	National
Colin Holt	National
Paddy Embry	One Nation

Notes

^a Members serving for the 2009–2013 term were elected in 2008 but do not take their seats in Parliament until 22 May 2009.

^b Members serving for the 2013–2017 term do not take their seats in Parliament until 22 May 2013.

¹ Paddy Embry was elected as a One Nation member, but resigned from the party on 15 May 2003 and sat as an independent. He later co-founded the New Country Party, and represented them in the Council towards the end of his term.