Fowler is a diverse electorate, containing immigrant communities of Vietnamese and Chinese ancestry. According to the 2021 census, 39.1% of electors were born in Australia, 16.0% were born in Vietnam and 2.0% were born in China (excluding SARs and Taiwan).[2] At the time of the 2022 Australian federal election, 16% of Fowler's population possessed Vietnamese ancestry, and 11% possessed Chinese heritage.[3]
The current MP is Dai Le, who was elected as an independent in 2022. She is the first non-Labor politician to represent Fowler. Le has strong links to the Vietnamese community in Fowler; she was born in Vietnam and migrated to Australia as an eleven year old after three years in a Philippinesrefugee camp.[1]
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.[4]
After announcing that he would retire at the 2022 federal election, Hayes endorsed Tu Le, a locally resident lawyer, to succeed him. A factional dispute involving winnable seats on the Senate ticket saw Senator Kristina Keneallyparachuted into the election for the "safe" seat in order to resolve the dispute. It would also allow Keneally to serve on the ministerial or shadow frontbench following the election. Keneally's move was heavily criticised both in the community and within the party for her decision to usurp the position of a local candidate, with Keneally living on Scotland Island on Sydney's Northern Beaches, over an hour's drive from the electorate.
Dai Le, a local independent who was serving as the deputy mayor of the Fairfield City Council announced her intention to stand for the seat. Dai Le had been a Liberal Party member earlier in her career until her expulsion from the party as her bid for Mayor breached party rules regarding running against an endorsed candidate.[5]
Le won the seat after a major swing against Labor. Keneally's slightly higher first preference vote was not high enough to prevent Le from winning on the two party preferred count. Liberal Party, United Australia, One Nation and Liberal Democrats preferences flowed to Le while the small number of Greens votes and voters not following a typical right to left preference flow were not enough to keep it in the hands of Labor. It was the first time Labor had lost the seat, after 13 straight election wins.
Demographics
Population
The population as at the 2021 Census in the division of Fowler was 173,523 people.[2]
People
Persons count based on place of usual residence on Census night
The Division of Fowler is one of Australia's most multicultural communities with a very high percentage of migrants and first generation Australians. As at the 2021 Census the breakdown of country of birth was;
Country of birth
Fowler
%
Australia
67,784
39.1
Other top responses
Vietnam
17,813
16.0
Iraq
15,022
8.7
Cambodia
5,708
3.3
China (excluding SARs and Taiwan)
3,464
2.0
Syria
2,561
1.5
Fowler has a high multicultural population compared to the national and state averages. 77.3% of the population of Fowler had both parents born overseas. While the general percentage of all Australians with both parents born overseas is 36.7%.
Country of birth of parents, stated responses
Fowler
%
New South Wales
%
Australia
%
Both parents born overseas
134,212
77.3
3,181,894
39.4
9,321,603
36.7
Father only born overseas
5,811
3.3
509,789
6.3
1,670,476
6.6
Mother only born overseas
4,176
2.4
369,492
4.6
1,257,942
4.9
Both parents born in Australia
16,758
9.7
3,529,168
43.7
11,663,577
45.9
Median weekly income
The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Fowler (Commonwealth Electoral Division) as at the 2021 Census was lower than the national and state averages.
Median weekly incomes
People aged 15 years and over
Fowler
New South Wales
Australia
Personal
521
813
805
Family
1,529
2,185
2,120
Household
1,403
1,829
1,746
Employment
There were 62,077 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before census night in Fowler (Commonwealth Electoral Division). Of these, 47.8% were employed full time, 26.3% were employed part-time and 8.6% were unemployed. Unemployment is significantly higher that the New South Wales state average of 4.9% and the national average of 5.1%
Employment
People who reported being in the labour force, aged 15 years and over
Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Fowler in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Primary vote results in Fowler (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
Labor
Liberal
Greens
Christian Democrats
Australian Democrats
Unity
Palmer United/United Australia Party
One Nation
Independent
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
