Calwell – Australia 2019

ALP 19.8%

Incumbent MP
Maria Vamvakinou, since 2001.

Outer northern suburbs of Melbourne. Calwell covers the eastern half of the Hume council area, and a small part of the Brimbank council area. Calwell covers the suburbs of Broadmeadows, Tullamarine, Coolaroo, Meadow Heights, Greenvale, Yuroke, Mickleham, Kalkallo and Roxburgh Park, as well as Melbourne Airport.

Calwell shifted north, gaining Kalkallo and Mickleham from McEwen, and losing Calder Park, Keilor and Sydenham to Fraser. These changes increased the margin from 17.9% to 19.8%.

Calwell was created for the expansion of the House of Representatives in 1984. It has always been a safe Labor seat.

The seat was first won in 1984 by Andrew Theophanous. Theophanous had previously held Burke since 1980. He served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the final term of the Labor government from 1993 to 1996. He came under fire for allegations of migration fraud. He resigned from the ALP in 2000 and served out his term as an independent, losing in 2001. He later served time in prison.

Calwell was won in 2001 by Maria Vamvakinou, and she has held the seat ever since.


Calwell is a very safe Labor seat.

2016 result

Maria Vamvakinou Labor 51,04056.8+7.058.8
John Hsu Liberal 24,85527.7-0.825.6
Natalie Abboud Greens 7,6098.5+3.18.0
Megan Deanne SearlsAnimal Justice3,2293.6+3.63.4
Michael Amon LakkisIndependent3,1153.5+3.53.0

2016 two-party-preferred result

Maria Vamvakinou Labor 60,97867.9+4.069.8
John Hsu Liberal 28,87032.1-4.030.2

Booth breakdown

Polling places in Calwell have been divided into three parts: north, south-east and south-west.

Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 63.7% in the south-west to 81.7% in the south-east.

Voter groupALP 2PP %Total votes% of votes
Other votes63.711,48614.7

Two-party-preferred votes in Calwell at the 2016 federal election

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  1. Like Anthony Byrne: Another conservative backbencher in a safe Labor seat. Why? You would think they’d try to nurture real talent in a seat like this. Even considering factions, there’s a big difference between the likes of Clare O’Neil or Tim Watts, and Feeney/Danby level embarrassments.

    John Hsu (Liberal) was disendorsed in 2016; I doubt it would have made much of a difference here though.

  2. I disagree about Byrne – he’s served in important roles – but Vamvakinou is a notorious time-server. (Does she still live in Northcote?)

    Kim Carr’s waning factional power has cost Gavin Marshall his safe Senate spot. Hopefully Vamvakinou is next.

  3. Byrne is a Liberal in all but name, but at least he’s had to actually fight for Holt sometimes.

    I don’t know what the point of Vamvakinou is at all

  4. Perhaps after the circus of Theophanous, having “Generic Inoffensive Nobody Candidate” was exactly what Labor wanted?

  5. It’s worth noting that Vamvakinou is actually a member of the Left, despite her conservative views on SSM. She surely cannot be far from retirement.

  6. Her conservative views obviously represent the highly-ethnic composition of this seat; this was reflected in the SSM vote last year.

    Think she’s pushing 60. That, in combination with her now 15+ year tenure, mean that surely some up and coming hotshot has her in their sights.

  7. Its funny an opposition leader gets a seat named after him, Its very rare for that, I mean there not any seats named Evatt,Sneeden,Latham (John Latham), etc, why is Calwell different? He supported White australia policy which is racist and extreme, Any ideas? Peacock,Hewsen,Hayden likely won’t get seats named after them

  8. Former Pascoe Vale Liberal Candidate, Gen Hamilton is running in Calwell.

    Gen finished fourth in that seat at the election.


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