The Division of Franklin is an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir John Franklin, the polar explorer who was Lt Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1843-46. It is located in southern Tasmania, including the Hobart suburbs of Bridgewater, Cygnet, Kingston and Lauderdale. It has always been a reasonably marginal seat, changing hands between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party and its predecessors.
Although after 14 years of representation by former Labor and independent member Harry Quick the seat of Franklin was considered safe Labor, Franklin was one of very few electorates to record a swing to Labor at the 2010 election. Franklin also has a strong history of voting for strong candidates rather than for a particular party.
In 2005, sitting Labor member Harry Quick announced that he would retire at the 2007 election. When Labor preselected union official Kevin Harkins as a replacement, Quick, seeing him as unsuitable, appeared to endorse the Liberal candidate, Vanessa Goodwin, which was partly responsible for his expulsion from the Labor party. Harkins was eventually dropped as a candidate, and the Labor Party state secretary Julie Collins was installed as the ALP candidate.
Julie Collins won the seat of Franklin at the 2007 election despite the Labor suffering a 3.11% swing against on two party preferred results and 5.03% swing against in general results. Liberal Party candidate Vanessa Goodwin recorded a swing towards the party while the Australian Greens a swing towards the party similar to that of the Liberals.
Read more about Division Of Franklin: Members, Election Results
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