Electoral district of Rockingham

Rockingham is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.

Rockingham Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
Location of Rockingham (dark green) in the Perth metropolitan area
State	Western Australia
Dates current	1974–present
MP	Magenta Marshall
Party	Labor
Namesake	Rockingham
Electors	29,259 (2021)
Area	49 km2 (18.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Metropolitan

The district is located in the outer south-western suburbs of Perth.

Rockingham has been held at all times by the Labor Party, and is currently held by Magenta Marshall.

Geography

The electorate is a compact, urban district centred on the coastal community of Rockingham, a satellite suburb to the south-west of Perth. The district also takes in the neighbouring suburbs of Peron, Shoalwater, Safety Bay, as well as parts of Cooloongup, East Rockingham and Waikiki. The district also includes Garden Island.

The seat was created in 1974 at the height of the Charles Court government's popularity, and was initially a marginal Labor seat. However, a redistribution ahead of the 1980 election made it much friendlier to Labor, and since then it has been one of Labor's safest seats. Since 1980, Labor's hold on the seat has only been seriously threatened twice, in 1989 and 1993.

Members for Rockingham

Rockingham has had only three members. The first, Mike Barnett, served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for most of the Burke and Dowding governments. He retired in 1996 and handed the seat to Mark McGowan, a minister in the Gallop and Carpenter governments, and later a prominent member of the opposition to the Barnett government.

McGowan was elected leader of WA Labor, and hence Leader of the Opposition, in 2012. As a measure of Labor's strength in the seat, McGowan picked up a modest swing in his favour in 2013 even as Labor was heavily defeated statewide.

Four years later, McGowan led Labor to the largest majority government in the state's history. Along the way, his own margin in Rockingham swelled from an already comfortably safe 13.2 percent to 23.4 percent. In 2021, he led Labor to the most comprehensive election victory at any level in Australia since Federation, with 53 out of 59 seats. His own margin in Rockingham ballooned to 37.7 percent, the safest seat in the state. On 29 May 2023 McGowan announced his resignation, citing "exhaustion" from the position. Magenta Marshall retained the seat for Labor at the ensuing by-election.

Member		Party	Term
	Mike Barnett	Labor	1974–1996
	Mark McGowan	Labor	1996–2023
	Magenta Marshall	Labor	2023–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Rockingham

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

2023 Rockingham state by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Magenta Marshall	10,791	49.33	−33.42
	Liberal	Peter Hudson	3,868	17.73	+7.91
	Independent	Hayley Edwards	3,488	15.95	+15.95
	Legalise Cannabis	Rae Cottam	1,487	6.80	+6.80
	Greens	Madeleine De Jong	1,081	4.94	+1.77
	Christians	Mike Crichton	534	2.44	+2.44
	Western Australia	Janetia Knapp	262	1.20	+1.20
	Independent	Clive Gallety	193	0.88	+0.88
	Independent	Peter Dunne	170	0.78	+0.78
Total formal votes			21,874	97.20	+0.46
Informal votes			630	2.80	−0.46
Turnout			22,504	74.48	−9.46
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Magenta Marshall	13,978	65.20	−22.52
	Liberal	Peter Hudson	7,461	34.80	+22.52
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Magenta Marshall	13,412	61.37	−26.35
	Independent	Hayley Edwards	8,443	38.63	+38.63
	Labor hold		Swing	N/A

External links

• WAEC district maps: current boundaries, previous distributions