Vasse
Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
Location of Vasse (dark green) in Western Australia
StateWestern Australia
Dates current1950–present
MPLibby Mettam
PartyLiberal
NamesakeVasse River
Electors31,284 (2021)
Area2,643 km2 (1,020.5 sq mi)
DemographicProvincial and rural
Electorates around Vasse:
Indian Ocean Indian Ocean Collie-Preston
Indian Ocean Vasse Warren-Blackwood
Indian Ocean Warren-Blackwood Warren-Blackwood

Vasse is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in Western Australia. Vasse is based in the South West region of the state, centred on the town of Busselton and is named for the Vasse River. It has been a safe seat for the Liberal Party at all times since its creation, including as its previous incarnation, Sussex.

The current MLA, Liberal Libby Mettam, won a by-election on 18 October 2014 following the resignation of former Liberal leader Troy Buswell.

Geography

Originally centred on Geographe Bay and Busselton, the redistribution ahead of the 2008 state election expanded the electorate south to include large parts of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River which had formerly been in Warren-Blackwood prior to that district's abolition. Apart from Busselton and its suburbs, the Vasse district includes the towns of Vasse, Dunsborough/Quindalup, Yallingup, Margaret River, Cowaramup, Gracetown and Prevelly as well as part of Witchcliffe.

History

Vasse was first created for the 1950 state election out of the former seat of Sussex. It is a historically safe seat for the Liberal Party, which has held the seat continuously since its foundation. Indeed, counting its time as Sussex, it has been in the hands of the Liberals and their predecessors since the first Legislative Assembly was convened in 1890. The only time it has been out of the hands of a conservative party was when sitting Liberal Bernie Masters resigned to sit as an independent in 2004–05.

Vasse had only two members in its first 46 years, Stewart Bovell (1950–1971) and Barry Blaikie (1971–1996). Masters succeeded Blaikie at the 1996 state election, but lost preselection for a third term ahead of the 2005 election in favour of then Shire of Busselton mayor Troy Buswell. Masters resigned from the party and contested the election as an independent, but was defeated by Buswell. Buswell served as Liberal leader from January to August 2008, and as Treasurer from 2008 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2014. Buswell resigned in 2014 after a drink-driving controversy, and was succeeded at the resulting by-election by Libby Mettam. The by-election, which was not contested by the opposition Labor Party, saw the National Party cut the Liberal margin in Vasse to less than 4%.

Members for Vasse

MemberPartyTerm
  Stewart Bovell Liberal Country League 1950–1968
  Liberal 1968–1971
  Barry Blaikie Liberal 1971–1996
  Bernie Masters Liberal 1996–2004
  Independent 2004–2005
  Troy Buswell Liberal 2005–2014
  Libby Mettam Liberal 2014–present

Election results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2021 Western Australian state election (Legislative Assembly) § Vasse.[edit]
2021 Western Australian state election: Vasse[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Libby Mettam 11,697 44.1 −2.1
Labor Chris Hossen 8,998 34.0 +13.3
Greens Mia Krasenstein 2,765 10.4 −3.4
National Peter Gordon 1,135 4.3 −15.0
Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Cameron Van Veen 521 2.0 +2.0
No Mandatory Vaccination A. W. Judd 489 1.8 +1.8
Legalise Cannabis Neridah Rich 403 1.5 +1.5
One Nation Jackson Wreford 253 1.0 +1.0
Sustainable Australia Brad Satchell 191 0.7 +0.7
WAxit Nicolas Oancea 46 0.2 +0.2
Total formal votes 26,498 96.5 +0.5
Informal votes 958 3.5 −0.5
Turnout 27,456 87.8 +2.8
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Libby Mettam 14,387 54.3 −10.3
Labor Chris Hossen 12,107 45.7 +10.3
Liberal hold Swing−10.3

References

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