Midland

Margin: Labor 0.6%
Region: East Metropolitan
Federal: Hasluck

RESULTS AT 2013 ELECTION
HISTORICAL TWO-PARTY RESULTS
PREVIOUS ELECTION RESULTS MAP

Candidates in ballot paper order

DANIEL PARASILITI Liberal (centre) JOHN BILTOFT Micro Business Party MICHELLE ROBERTS Labor (top) TONY D'ANGELO One Nation MATTHEW BIGGS Greens (bottom) TRENT PASSMORE Shooters Fishers and Farmers GREG ROSS Julie Matheson for WA

Located 15 kilometres east of the city, Midland was established as a township in 1891, and has given its name to a state electorate since 1996. It has been held for Labor since its creation by Michelle Roberts, although she suffered a fright in 2013 when a 8.2% swing reduced her margin to just 24 votes, with Greens preferences overturning a substantial Liberal lead on the primary vote. The electorate currently runs from Guildford in the west through Midland in the centre to Swan View in the east, with the redistribution adding the Swan Valley suburb of Caversham in the north and removing Hazelmere further to the south. The changes respectively add around 2000 voters from West Swan and transfer nearly 1000 to Belmont, adding 0.5% to the Labor margin.

The area of Midland and Guildford was accommodated by the electorates of Guildford and then Guildford-Midland until 1962, then by Swan until 1983 and Helena thereafter. Labor's dominance was dented only in 1994, when Rhonda Parker won Helena for the Liberals at a by-election caused by Gordon Hill's resignation in the wake of the 1993 election defeat. Parker contested the new seat of Ballajura in 1996, and Roberts was reassigned to Midland with the abolition of her existing seat of Glendalough in Perth's inner north, where she had succeeded Carmen Lawrence at a by-election in 1994.

Roberts has held front bench positions for all but the first eight months of her parliamentary career, and wields considerable influence within the party's Right. She was rated as a contender to succeed Geoff Gallop as Premier after his surprise retirement announcement in January 2006, but her bid lost momentum after she responded unconvincingly to reporters' questions about her efforts to enlist support from Brian Burke. Her current shadow portfolio load includes police, road safety and the arts.

The Liberals have again endorsed their narrowly unsuccessful candidate from 2013, Daniel Parasiliti, a local physiotherapist. Parasiliti suffered bad press in May last year over vulgar comments he left on a Facebook page in 2008 criticising the apology to the stolen generation.