{{Short description|Australian federal electoral division}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox Australian electorate | federal = yes | name = Higgins | image = Division of Higgins 2022.png | caption = Division of Higgins in Victoria, as of the 2022 federal election | created = 1949 | abolished = 2025 | namesake = H. B. Higgins | electors = 107782 | electors_year = 2022 | area = 39 | class = Inner metropolitan }} The '''Division of Higgins''' was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria for the Australian House of Representatives from 1949 until 2025. At the time of its abolition in 2025, the division covered {{convert|41|km2|mi2|abbr=on}} in Melbourne's inner south-eastern suburbs. The main suburbs included {{VICcity|Armadale}}, {{VICcity|Ashburton}}, {{VICcity|Carnegie}}, {{VICcity|Glen Iris}}, {{VICcity|Kooyong}}, {{VICcity|Malvern}}, Malvern East, Murrumbeena, Prahran and {{VICcity|Toorak}}; along with parts of {{VICcity|Camberwell}}, {{VICcity|Ormond}} and South Yarra. Though historically a safe conservative seat, Higgins was won by the Liberal Party by a margin of just 3.9 percent over the Labor Party at the 2019 election, the closest result in the seat’s history.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/guide/higg| title = Higgins (Key Seat) - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results - ABC News| website = Australian Broadcasting Corporation| access-date = 22 August 2021| archive-date = 22 August 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210822051429/https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/guide/higg| url-status = live}}</ref> It then flipped to Labor in the 2022 election.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Higgins (Key Seat) - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results |url=https://abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2022/guide/higg |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=abc.net.au |language=en-AU |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527221434/https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2022/guide/higg |url-status=live }}</ref>

Higgins was a largely white-collar electorate. According to the {{CensusAU|2021}}, 52.4% of electors held a Bachelor's Degree, slightly more than twice the national average.<ref>{{Census 2021 AUS |id=CED220|name=Higgins |access-date=8 October 2024 |quick=on}}</ref>

The last member for Higgins, elected at the 2022 federal election, was Michelle Ananda-Rajah, a member of the Australian Labor Party, and the first Labor member in the seat's history.

In 2024, the Australian Electoral Commission announced that the seat would be abolished in the Victorian federal electorate redistribution, effective from the 2025 Australian federal election, with its electors distributed across the divisions of Melbourne, Kooyong, Hotham, Macnamara and Chisholm.<ref>{{Cite web |work=Victorian federal redistribution |date=5 September 2024 |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |title=7. Announcement of names and boundaries of federal electoral divisions in Victoria |at=The abolition of the Division of Higgins|url=https://aec.gov.au/redistributions/2023/vic/announcement.html |archive-date=8 October 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008070117/https://aec.gov.au/redistributions/2023/vic/announcement.html |access-date=2024-09-14 |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==Geography== 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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

==History == [[File:Portrait of Henry Bournes Higgins (cropped).jpg|150px|thumb|left|H. B. Higgins, the division's namesake]]{{Section needs more citations|date=May 2025}} The division was created in 1949. Like other seats in inner-eastern Melbourne, Higgins had historically been a stronghold for the Liberal Party. It was considered a "leadership seat", in part because the seat's first two members, Harold Holt and Sir John Gorton, were Prime Ministers of Australia in the period between 1966 and 1971.

More recently, the seat was held by Peter Costello, a prominent member of the Howard government as the longest serving Treasurer of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. Costello resigned from the seat on 19 October 2009, and was succeeded in the ensuing by-election by fellow Liberal Kelly O'Dwyer, who would go on to become a minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments.

O'Dwyer retired in 2019. At that election, Labor came reasonably close to winning this seat for the first time ever, with Labor's highest two-party preferred vote in the history of the seat (46.12%). Liberal candidate Katie Allen, however, saw off a challenge from barrister Fiona McLeod, despite suffering a swing of six percent, making Higgins marginal against Labor for the first time ever. Allen became the first Liberal candidate to come up short of an outright majority on the first count. High-profile Greens candidate Jason Ball also contested the seat, receiving almost a quarter of the vote.

At the 2022 election, Labor took the seat for the first time. While Allen led Labor challenger Michelle Ananda-Rajah for most of the night, on the seventh count the Green candidate's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Ananda-Rajah, allowing Ananda-Rajah to win on a swing of 4.7 percent.

Higgins is the only Division to have been held by two Prime Ministers. This occurred when Holt went missing while Prime Minister, and then-Senator Gorton used the ensuing by-election to transfer to the House. Prior to 2022, it had only been out of Liberal hands for eight months in its existence, when Gorton became an independent to protest against Malcolm Fraser's becoming Liberal leader.

The seat is one of the few to have produced two federal Treasurers; Holt and Costello served as Treasurers during their respective tenure in Higgins. Another member, Kelly O'Dwyer had a stint as Assistant Treasurer.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-election-2016-under-fire-kelly-odwyer-scuttles-twitter-joke-while-peter-costello-rushes-to-her-aid-20160625-gprqtb.html| title = Under fire Kelly O'Dwyer scuttles Twitter joke while Peter Costello rushes to her aid| date = 25 June 2016| access-date = 23 October 2020| archive-date = 3 August 2024| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240803130037/https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-election-2016-under-fire-kelly-odwyer-scuttles-twitter-joke-while-peter-costello-rushes-to-her-aid-20160625-gprqtb.html |first=Tony|last=Wright| url-status = live |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>

==Name== The division is named after Justice H. B. Higgins (1851–1929), who was a Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1894) and president of the Carlton Football Club (1904). He was a founding Member of Australian House of Representatives, serving as the Protectionist member for Northern Melbourne and was the Attorney-General in the Watson government (1904). He went on to become a Justice of the High Court of Australia (1906–1929) {{clear left}}

==Members== {| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! colspan=2 | Image ! Member ! Party ! Term ! Notes |- | {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Harold Holt<br />{{small|(1908–1967)}} | rowspan="2" | Liberal | nowrap | 10 December 1949 –<br />17 December 1967 | Previously held the Division of Fawkner. Served as minister under Menzies. Served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1967. Died in office |- | {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp; | rowspan=2 | 100px | rowspan=2 | John Gorton<br />{{small|(1911–2002)}} | nowrap | 24 February 1968 –<br />23 May 1975 | rowspan=2 | Previously a member of the Senate. Served as Prime Minister from 1968 to 1971. Served as minister under McMahon. Did not contest in 1975. Failed to win a Senate seat |- | {{Australian party style|Independent}}|&nbsp; | nowrap | Independent | nowrap | 23 May 1975 –<br />11 November 1975 |- | {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Roger Shipton<br />{{small|(1936–1998)}} | rowspan="4" | Liberal | nowrap | 13 December 1975 –<br />19 February 1990 | Lost preselection and retired |- | {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Peter Costello<br />{{small|(1957–)}} | nowrap | 24 March 1990 –<br />19 October 2009 | Served as minister under Howard. Resigned to retire from politics |- | {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Kelly O'Dwyer<br />{{small|(1977–)}} | nowrap | 5 December 2009 –<br />11 April 2019 | Served as minister under Turnbull and Morrison. Retired |- | {{Australian party style|Liberal}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Katie Allen<br />{{small|(1966–2025)}} | nowrap | 18 May 2019 –<br />21 May 2022 | Lost seat |- | {{Australian party style|Labor}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Michelle Ananda-Rajah<br />{{small|(1972–)}} | Labor | nowrap | 21 May 2022 –<br />3 May 2025 | Transferred to the Senate after Higgins was abolished in 2025 |}

==Election results== {{main|Electoral results for the Division of Higgins}} {{Excerpt|Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in Victoria|section=Higgins}} {{Image frame | content = {{Chart|definition=Primary vote results in the Division of Higgins.chart|data=Primary vote results in the Division of Higgins.tab|Width=640}} | caption=Primary vote results in Higgins (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted) | align=center }} {{legend|#0047AB|Liberal}} {{legend|#DE3533|Labor}} {{legend|#FFCD00|Australian Democrats}} {{legend|#10C25B|Greens}} {{Image frame | content = {{Chart|definition=TPP results in the Division of Higgins.chart|data=TPP results in the Division of Higgins.tab|Width=640}} | caption=Two-party-preferred vote results in Higgins | align=center }}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/vic/higgins.htm Division of Higgins – Australian Electoral Commission]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Division of}} Category:Electoral divisions of Australia in Victoria Category:Constituencies established in 1949 Category:1949 establishments in Australia Category:Constituencies disestablished in 2025 Category:Former electoral divisions of Australia Category:City of Boroondara Category:City of Stonnington Category:City of Glen Eira Category:Electoral districts and divisions of Greater Melbourne Category:1901 establishments in Australia Category:2025 disestablishments in Australia