Division of Aston

The Division of Aston is an Australian Federal Electoral Division in the state of Victoria, located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The suburbs in the division include Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Kilsyth South, Knoxfield, Rowville, Scoresby, The Basin, Wantirna and Wantirna South; and parts of Lysterfield, Sassafras, Upper Ferntree Gully, Ringwood, Heathmont and Bayswater North.

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.

Between 2018 and 2024, the division was co-extensive with the City of Knox local government area. Since the 2024 redistribution, it also included portions of the City of Maroondah south of Canterbury Road.

History

The division was created in 1984 and is named after Tilly Aston, a blind writer and teacher who helped found the Library of the Victorian Association of Braille Writers in 1894.

A typical "mortgage belt" seat, it was held by the Labor Party until 1990, but was from then until 2023 it was held by the Liberal Party. At the 2022 Australian federal election it was the Liberal Party’s safest seat in metropolitan Melbourne. However, the seat became marginal at that election, with the Liberals experiencing a 11.64% drop in their primary vote and a 7.32% drop in their two-party vote. The very next year, the Australian Labor Party regained the seat from the Liberal Party following the 2023 by-election. Mary Doyle was elected as the new Labor member in the by-election.

Aston has one of the biggest Chinese-Australian communities in Victoria, with more than 22,500 Chinese residents, or about 14 per cent of the electorate's population.