Make Your Voice Heard: Marginal Electorates to Engage

With the Federal Election now underway, this is a critical opportunity to ensure occupational therapy is prioritised by candidates and political parties.

If you live in a marginal electorate, your advocacy carries even greater weight. Candidates in these seats are particularly attuned to local concerns and often have significant influence on broader policy decisions. Some historically ‘safe’ seats that have shown a tendency to swing are also worth engaging and have been included in the table below.

To support your advocacy efforts, OTA has developed a Federal Election Toolkit, providing the key messages and resources you need to make occupational therapy a key election issue.

Together, we can ensure that every candidate understands the vital role of occupational therapy in our communities.

Key marginal electorates

Based on the 2022 Federal Election results. Percentages reflect the margin by which the seat is held. A small percentage means the seat is highly marginal – the incumbent party only narrowly won last time and could easily lose it at the next election.

Party abbreviations: ALP = Australian Labor Party, LIB = Liberal Party, LNP = Liberal National Party (Qld), NAT = The Nationals, IND = Independent, GRN = Australian Greens

<tr><td>New South Wales</td><td>Gilmore</td><td>ALP</td><td>0.2</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Paterson</td><td>ALP</td><td>2.6</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Hunter</td><td>ALP</td><td>4.8</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Eden-Monaro</td><td>ALP</td><td>6.1</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Robertson</td><td>ALP</td><td>2.2</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Werriwa</td><td>ALP</td><td>5.3</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Shortland</td><td>ALP</td><td>6.0</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Macquarie</td><td>ALP</td><td>6.3</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Dobell</td><td>ALP</td><td>6.6</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Bennelong</td><td>LIB</td><td>0.1</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Fowler</td><td>IND</td><td>1.4</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Bradfield</td><td>LIB</td><td>2.5</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Mackellar</td><td>IND</td><td>3.3</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Wentworth</td><td>IND</td><td>9.0</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Calare</td><td>NAT</td><td>9.7</td></tr>

<tr><td>Western Australia</td><td>Bullwinkel</td><td>ALP</td><td>3.3</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Pearce</td><td>ALP</td><td>8.8</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Tangney</td><td>ALP</td><td>2.8</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Swan</td><td>ALP</td><td>9.4</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Cowan</td><td>ALP</td><td>9.9</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Hasluck</td><td>ALP</td><td>10.1</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Curtin</td><td>IND</td><td>1.3</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Moore</td><td>LIB</td><td>0.9</td></tr>

<tr><td>Tasmania</td><td>Lyons</td><td>ALP</td><td>0.9</td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td>Bass</td><td>LIB</t