The Division of Bruce is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. The division is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It covers an area of approximately including the suburbs of , , , , , , , , and ; and parts of , , , , , , and .
Bruce is an ethnically diverse and multicultural electorate, with a large Sri Lankan community and the highest number of Sinhalese speakers in the country.
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.
History
upright=0.7|thumb|left|[[Stanley Bruce, the division's namesake]]
The division was created in 1955, and is named for Stanley Bruce, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. Unusually, the division was named after a living person, as Bruce did not die until 1967.
Originally, the division was based on Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley, and was a fairly safe seat for the Liberal Party, but it became increasingly marginal in the 1980s. A redistribution in 1996 pushed its boundaries southward, erasing the Liberal majority altogether and making it notionally a Labor seat. Labor took the seat at that year's election even as it was heavily defeated federally, and since then it has been a marginal Labor seat.
The current Member for Bruce, since the 2016 federal election, is Julian Hill, who is a member of the Australian Labor Party.
Demographics
Bruce is a diverse and socially conservative electorate and is historically working-class. Bruce has three times the proportion of families with Chinese backgrounds as the state average.