Australia
The Australian Electoral Commission defines seat margins as follows:
| Winning 2PP vote | Margin | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| 50 to 56% | 0 to 6% | Marginal |
| 56 to 60% | 6 to 10% | Fairly safe |
| 60 to 68% | 10 to 18% | Safe |
| Over 68% | Over 18% | Very safe |
In his election analysis, psephologist Antony Green puts the cutoff between "safe" and "very safe" at 12%.
In Australia's federal system, most rural seats are safe seats for either the National Party or Liberal Party. Conversely, inner-city and poorer suburban seats are typically safe Australian Labor Party seats, and a few of the most affluent inner-middle urban seats are held by the Liberal Party. Marginals are generally concentrated in the middle-class outer-suburban areas of Australia's larger state capitals, which therefore decide most Australian federal elections.
At the 2007 federal election, the governing Australian Labor Party's safest seat was the seat of Division of Batman in Melbourne's inner-northern suburbs, with a two-party-preferred margin of 26.0%. The safest seat for the opposition Liberal Party was the rural Victorian electorate of Murray, with a margin of 18.3%. The Liberal Party's junior coalition partner, the National Party's safest seat was the division of Mallee, also located in rural Victoria, with a margin of 21.3%.
Read more about this topic: Safe Seat
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