Division of Kooyong

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.{{cite web |last1=Muller |first1=Damon |title=The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/FederalRedistributions |website=Parliament of Australia |access-date=19 April 2022 |date=14 November 2017 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523135724/https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/FederalRedistributions |url-status=live }}

The 2021 Census found that 64.0% of Kooyong constituents were born in Australia with an additional 8.4% being born in China. 44.8% of people stated they were not religious with the next most common responses being Catholic 19.6%, and then Anglican 7.9%.{{cite web |title=2021 Kooyong, Census All persons QuickStats {{!}} Australian Bureau of Statistics |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/CED226 |website=www.abs.gov.au |access-date=21 September 2022 |archive-date=21 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921105534/https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/CED226 |url-status=live }} At the time of the 2022 Australian federal election, over 11% of Kooyong's population possessed Chinese ancestry.{{cite web |last1=Fang |first1=Jason |last2=Xing |first2=Dong |last3=Handley |first3=Erin |title=Chinese-Australian voters helped sway the election result. So what issues mattered most to them? |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-24/chinese-australian-vote-election-swing-labor/101091384 |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=29 June 2024}}

File:Exterior of Kooyong Stadium.jpg. The division (which, due to redistributions, did not always contain the suburb and stadium of Kooyong – although these have been re-included in the 2025 federal electorate boundaries) takes its name from an Aboriginal word for camp or resting place.Profile of the electoral division of Kooyong (Vic)[https://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/kooyong.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101045842/https://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/kooyong.htm|date=1 November 2019}} Retrieved 1 November 2019.]]The Division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first Federal election. It was named after the suburb, which it originally included; the name is from an Aboriginal word for camp or resting place.{{cite web|title=Profile of the electoral division of Kooyong (Vic)|url=https://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/kooyong.htm|publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|date=30 June 2022|access-date=7 September 2023|archive-date=15 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815213552/https://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/kooyong.htm|url-status=live}}.

Kooyong was held by the Liberal Party of Australia and its conservative predecessors for the first 121 years of its existence, apart from 1921 to 1925, when John Latham successfully ran as a "Liberal", mainly on the platform of removing Billy Hughes as prime minister. With Hughes' resignation in 1923, Latham joined the governing Nationalist Party, and remained a member till his resignation from the seat and his elevation to the High Court. It is one of two original electorates in Victoria to have never been won by the Australian Labor Party, the other being Gippsland.

The seat's best-known member was Sir Robert Menzies, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia. From 1922 to 1994, it was held by only three members, all of whom went on to lead the non-Labor forces in Parliament – former Opposition Leader and future Chief Justice Latham, Menzies, and former Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock.

For decades, it was one of the safest Liberal-National coalition seats in metropolitan Australia. Even during Labor's landslide victory in 1943, Menzies won comfortably with 62.5 percent of the two-party-preferred vote.

Peacock's successor, high-profile Liberal backbencher Petro Georgiou, saw off a challenge from Josh Frydenberg for Liberal Party preselection in April 2006. On 22 November 2008, Georgiou announced his retirement at the next federal election.The Age Online (2008). [http://www.theage.com.au/national/georgiou-the-party-conscience-to-quit-20081121-6e4w.html Georgiou, the party conscience, to quit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102131129/http://www.theage.com.au/national/georgiou-the-party-conscience-to-quit-20081121-6e4w.html |date=2 November 2012 }}. Retrieved 22 November 2008. Frydenberg won preselection as the Liberal Party's candidate for the seat for the 2010 election and won, despite a small swing against him.

In 2019, high-profile Greens candidate Julian Burnside received the highest two-party preferred vote against the Liberals or their predecessors in 90 years, at 44.3%. The Liberals had anticipated a strong contest and doubled their campaign funding to Kooyong earlier in the year, from $500,000 to $1 million.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/libs-willing-burn-1m-to-save-frydenbergs-seat/news-story/fd16031485ade4badf597c16446d3e1f|title=Libs to burn $1m on Frydenberg|date=2019-03-05|website=The Australian|access-date=2019-12-15|archive-date=10 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210191050/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/libs-willing-burn-1m-to-save-frydenbergs-seat/news-story/fd16031485ade4badf597c16446d3e1f|url-status=live}} Frydenberg retained the seat, despite suffering a significant negative swing of 8.81% and the Liberal Party receiving its lowest first preference vote in the electorate in 76 years. It was also only the second time in 76 years that the major non-Labor party did not win the seat outright on the first count. The swing was actually large enough to make the seat marginal in a "traditional" two-party contest with Labor for the first time in decades. Frydenberg's margin in a "traditional" matchup with Labor fell to 6.8 percent. Although the Liberal Party won in the majority of booths, the Greens had the highest primary vote in three booths (Melbourne, Glenferrie and Glenferrie Central) and won in two-party preferred terms in 10 of the booths.

At the 2022 Australian federal election, "Teal independent" candidate Monique Ryan defeated Frydenberg 52.9-47.1 of the 2PP after-preference vote.{{Cite news |date=23 May 2022 |title=Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg concedes defeat in inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-23/josh-frydenberg-concedes-defeat-in-seat-of-kooyong/101092120 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527070904/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-23/josh-frydenberg-concedes-defeat-in-seat-of-kooyong/101092120 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |language=en-AU}} Both Frydenberg's and Ryan's campaigns spent over A$2 million each.{{Cite news |last=Glenday |first=James |date=7 November 2022 |title='Level' the playing field. Teal independents spent millions to win Liberal seats |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-07/climate-200-nearly-6-million-in-political-donations-election/101624016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106003711/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-07/climate-200-nearly-6-million-in-political-donations-election/101624016 |archive-date=6 January 2024 |access-date=7 January 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |last=McCubbing |first=Gus |date=24 May 2022 |title=Inside the campaign that unseated Frydenberg |url=https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/inside-the-campaign-that-unseated-frydenberg-20220523-p5anuq |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107095235/https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/inside-the-campaign-that-unseated-frydenberg-20220523-p5anuq |archive-date=7 January 2024 |access-date=8 January 2024 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}}

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The Division is named after the suburb of Kooyong, on which it was originally based. However, the suburb of Kooyong was not in its namesake electorate for some time, being instead in neighbouring Higgins. Nonetheless, the seat has retained the name of Kooyong, primarily because the Australian Electoral Commission's guidelines on electoral redistributions require it to preserve the names of original electorates where possible.{{cite web|title=Guidelines for naming divisions|url=http://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/guidelines.htm|publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|date=20 July 2011|access-date=30 March 2013|archive-date=21 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171121175923/http://www.aec.gov.au/electorates/Redistributions/guidelines.htm|url-status=live}} With the abolition of Higgins in the leadup to the 2025 election, the suburb of Kooyong has returned to the Division of the same name.

{{main|Electoral results for the Division of Kooyong}}

{{Excerpt|Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in Victoria|section=Kooyong}}

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• [http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/kooyong.htm Division of Kooyong - Australian Electoral Commission]

{{Australian federal divisions of Victoria}}

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Category:Electoral divisions of Australia

Category:Electoral divisions of Australia in Victoria

Category:Constituencies established in 1901

Category:1901 establishments in Australia

Category:City of Boroondara

Category:City of Whitehorse

Category:Electoral districts and divisions of Greater Melbourne