Electoral district of Polwarth

Polwarth Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Location of Polwarth (dark green) in Victoria
State	Victoria
Created	1889
MP	Richard Riordan
Party	Liberal
Namesake	County of Polwarth
Electors	45,895 (2018)
Area	8,860 km2 (3,420.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Electorates around Polwarth: Lowan Ripon Eureka South-West Coast Polwarth South Barwon Bass Strait Great Australian Bight Bass Strait Bass Strait

The electoral district of Polwarth is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is located in south-west rural Victoria, west of Geelong, and covers the Colac and Corangamite local government areas (LGA), parts of the Moyne, Golden Plains and Surf Coast LGAs, and slivers of the Ararat and Greater Geelong LGAs, running along the Great Ocean Road taking in Anglesea, Cape Otway, Peterborough, Aireys Inlet, Lorne, Wye River, Apollo Bay and Port Campbell, covering the inland towns of Winchelsea, Colac, Camperdown and Terang along the Princes Highway, and Inverleigh, Cressy, Lismore and Mortlake on the Hamilton Highway, and finally, includes the Otway Ranges and Lake Corangamite.^[1]

The seat has existed since 1889 and has always been held by conservative parties. The Liberal Party has held the seat continuously since 1970, although the Nationals have provided strong challenges on occasions, such as at the 1999 election when election night figures suggested retired AFL Footballer Paul Couch would win the seat.^[2] Ultimately, however, Couch failed to finish ahead of the Labor Party candidate and the Liberal candidate, Terry Mulder, won after receiving preferences from Couch.^[3]

The 2014 Victorian election saw the Liberal Terry Mulder retain his seat,^[4] with a 3.2% swing to Labor.^[5] Mulder resigned from parliament on 3 September 2015. The subsequent by-election, held on 31 October, saw Richard Riordan elected as the new member.