Electoral district of Heathbridge

Heathbridge is an electoral district of the Enderronian Parliament in Wentworth Metropolis, first contested at the 1946 federal election. It is named after the now-abolished Borough of Heathbridge, in northeast Wentworth.

The sitting member, since the 2004 by-election, is Scott Birkholz, a member of the Social Democratic Party.

History
Heathbridge was proclaimed at the 1946 redistribution. It was named after the Borough of Heathbridge in Wentworth's relatively affluent inner northeast, on which it was originally centred. In its early history, the seat tended towards the conservative side of politics, being represented by United Party for all but one term until 1966.

Since the 1960s, the electorate has gradually shifted eastward, into SDP-friendly territory in the Wentworth Sandbelt. The Social Democrats have held Heathbridge for all but one term since 1966, on increasingly safe margins.

The Borough of Heathbridge was abolished in 1984 and its territory subsumed into neighbouring boroughs. Nonetheless, the seat has retained the name of Heathbridge, primarily because the Enderronian Electoral Commission's guidelines on electoral redistributions require it, where possible, to preserve the names of electorates created prior to Enderronian independence.

Notable members include Maxwell Lee, an independent who held the seat from 1982 to 1986 (representing the only time the SDP has not held the seat since 1966), and former Deputy Prime Minister Kim Hernandez.