Division of Hotham

The Division of Hotham is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Hotham covers an area of approximately 83 square kilometres from Oakleigh in the north to Keysborough in the south. The division includes the suburbs of Bentleigh East, Clarinda, Clayton South, Coatesville, Huntingdale, Noble Park, Oakleigh East, Oakleigh South, Springvale,Waverley Park, Westall in their entirety; as well as parts of Bentleigh, Clayton, Keysborough, Mulgrave, Noble Park North, Oakleigh and Springvale South.

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.

The Division includes parts of the local government areas of Glen Eira City Council, Greater Dandenong City Council, Kingston City Council and Monash City Council.

History
The division was created in 1969 and is named for Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria 1854–55. The division was originally created as a safe Liberal seat, replacing the abolished Division of Higinbotham. Its founding member was Don Chipp, a prominent Liberal who served as a minister under John Gorton, William McMahon and Malcolm Fraser—as well as Harold Holt and John McEwen while he held his old seat. Chipp ended up quitting the party in 1977 due to personal animosity towards Fraser to form the Australian Democrats, and shortly thereafter transferred to the Senate.

Demographic changes resulted in Chipp's Liberal successor Roger Johnston lose Hotham to Labor in 1980. Labor has held it without serious difficulty since then, and the seat is now considered a fairly safe Labor seat. The immediate past member, Simon Crean, was Opposition Leader from 2001 until December 2003 and was in every Labor Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet from June 1991 to March 2013. Crean retired at the 2013 election and was succeeded by fellow Labor member Clare O'Neil. Since 2022, O'Neil has been the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security in the Albanese Labor Government.