What are 'safe seats'?

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Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)

Ballot box graphic

Graphic of a blue rectangle being dropped into a larger blue box. This is repeated multiple times.

Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)

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This graphic is a representation of a ballot papers being placed into a ballot boxes.

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The Australian Electoral Commission classifies electorates (also called seats) as safe, fairly safe or marginal:

  • In a safe seat, the winning candidate in a federal election receives more than 60% of the vote; it would require a very large swing – change in votes – for the winning candidate to lose this seat at the next election.
  • It is considered a fairly safe seat when the winning candidate receives between 56 to 60% of the vote.
  • A seat is classified as marginal when the winning candidate receives less than 56% of the vote. At the next election, it would take a smaller number of people to switch their votes to another candidate, for that candidate to win.