The Division of Cowan () is an

Australian Electoral Division Electorates (also known as electoral divisions or seats) of the Australian House of Representatives are single member electoral districts for the lower house of the Parliament of the Commonwealth. There are currently 150 electorates. Constitut ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Cowan is an inner-northern

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

seat lying generally between Morley Drive and

Hepburn Avenue Hepburn Avenue is an arterial east–west road in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The road links Sorrento in the west with Malaga and Whiteman in the east. It also connects the residential developments that span its length w ...

, extending from the

Mitchell Freeway The Mitchell Freeway is a controlled-access highway, freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth (suburb), central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of List of road routes in Western ...

in the west to the

Tonkin Highway Tonkin Highway is an north–south highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth Airport and Kewdale, Western Australia, Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. As of April 2020, the northern ...

and Lord Street in the east. Cowan is a

marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. T ...

that leans toward the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

. The current MP is

Anne Aly Anne Azza Aly (, born Azza Mahmoud Fawzi Hosseini Ali el Serougi, 29 March 1967) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 election, representing the electorate of Cowan in Western ...

, and member of Labor and the first

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

woman elected to federal parliament. She speaks

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and has previously worked in the Western Australia public service as a senior policy advisor.

History

The division was created in 1984 and is named for

Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (' Brown; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. C ...

, the first woman elected to an Australian Parliament. It is a marginal seat, changing hands between the

and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. All but one of its members has served at least one term in opposition. For example, at the 2007 election, the retirement of sitting member Graham Edwards resulted in Labor losing the seat to his Liberal challenger from 2004,

Luke Simpkins Luke Xavier Linton Simpkins (born 8 June 1964) is a former Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2016. He represented the Division of Cowan in Western Australia for the Liberal Party. Early l ...

, even as Labor ended 11 years of Coalition rule. Simpkins retained Cowan by defeating Labor candidate Liz Prime and retained the seat at the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2013 elections. A redistribution in 2015 saw Cowan undergo a significant boundary change which saw the Liberal margin drop from a fairly safe 7.5% to a marginal 4.5%. The redistribution saw Labor target the seat at the upcoming 2016 election. At that election the Labor candidate,

, became the first Muslim woman elected to the House of Representatives by narrowly defeating Simpkins. Aly retained the seat almost as narrowly in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, but was re-elected in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

with a significantly increased margin.

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for the management and oversight of Australian federal elections, plebiscites, referendums and some trade union A ...

. 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. In August 2021, the

(AEC) announced that the

Wanneroo Wanneroo is a northern suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Wanneroo. Geography As it is on the Swan Coastal Plain, the Wanneroo wetlands stretch parallel to the coastline and to the north and south of the suburb. Ed ...

suburbs of

Ashby Ashby may refer to: People * Ashby (surname) * Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (1267–1314), governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England * Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947), American physician and public ...

, Darch, Gnangara,

Hocking Hocking may refer to: Places * Hocking County, Ohio, United States * Hocking Township, Fairfield County, Ohio * Hocking Hills, Ohio * Hocking River, Ohio * Hocking Canal, a former canal that ran parallel to the Hocking River * Hocking, Western Aus ...

, Jandabup, Landsdale, Madeley, Pearsall, Sinagra,

Tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

, Wangara and

, and the

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

suburbs of Cullacabardee and a small part of Ballajura, would be transferred from Cowan to the seat of Pearce, while the Swan suburbs of Bennett Springs and Whiteman would be transferred to the seat of Hasluck, and Cowan's portion of Kingsley would be transferred to the seat of

Moore Moore may refer to: Language * Mooré language, spoken in West Africa People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior ...

. Cowan would consequently gain the

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

suburbs of Balcatta,

Balga Balga (; ; ; ) was a medieval castle of the Teutonic Knights in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The castle ruins are located on the shore of the Vistula Lagoon, north of Mamonovo in the Pogranichny municipality of Bagrationovsky District, about so ...

Dianella Dianella may refer to: * ''Dianella'' (beetle), a species and genus of beetle in the family Carabidae now known as ''Diamella'' * ''Dianella'' (gastropod), a genus of freshwater snails in the family Hydrobiidae * ''Dianella'' (plant), a genus of ...

, Hamersley, Mirrabooka,

Nollamara Nollamara is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the City of Stirling. The name "Nollamara" is a Noongar word for the flowering plant ''Macropidia'', commonly known as the black kangaroo paw. The suburb is less ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

and part of Osborne Park, along with the

Bayswater Bayswater is an area in the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

suburbs of Noranda and part of Morley, from the abolished seat of

. These boundary changes took place for the

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 May 2022, to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Morrison government, Liberal–National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, soug ...

. Cowan is bordered by

to the north,

Reid Highway Reid Highway is a east-west highway and partial freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking North Beach with Middle Swan. As part of State Route 3, it forms half of Perth's outer ring road along with Roe Highway, w ...

, and Lord Street to the east, Morley Drive, Main Street, and Hutton Street to the south, and the

to the west. The division covers a large portion of the

City of Stirling The City of Stirling is a local government area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about north of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and has a population of over 223,000, making ...

, parts of the

City of Swan The City of Swan is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area of Western Australia, in the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, eastern metropolitan region of Perth. It is named after the Swan River (Western Austral ...

and the

City of Wanneroo The City of Wanneroo is a local government area with city status in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It is centred approximately north of Perth's central business district and forms part of the northern boundary of the Perth ...

, and minor portions of the

City of Bayswater The City of Bayswater is a local government area in the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about northeast of Perth's central business district. The city covers an area of and had a population of 69,283 as at the 2021 Census. The Cit ...

and the

City of Joondalup The City of Joondalup is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in Perth, Western Australia. Its central business district is located in the suburb Joondalup, and it includes the town centres of Hillarys, Western A ...

. It includes the suburbs of: * Alexander Heights * Balcatta *

* Ballajura (part) * Beechboro *

* Girrawheen *

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ...

* Hamersley * Kiara * Koondoola * Lockridge * Malaga * Marangaroo * Mirrabooka * Morley (part) *

* Noranda * Osborne Park (part) *

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Cowan - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Electoral divisions of Australia in Western Australia Constituencies established in 1984 1984 establishments in Australia