Armadale was created at the 1982 redistribution out of parts of the seats of
Dale and
Gosnells. It was first contested in the
1983 election, in which
Labor member
Bob Pearce, who had previously represented Gosnells, was successful. The seat has been regarded as very safe for the
Labor Party since its creation, and at the
2001 election, the
Liberal Party did not field a candidate for the seat. It was held from 1996 until 2010 by
Alannah MacTiernan, the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure in the
Gallop and
Carpenter governments. On 25 June 2010, MacTiernan resigned from the Western Australian Legislative Assembly to run for the federal
seat of Canning. A
by-election occurred on 2 October 2010 and Labor candidate Tony Buti was elected. Buti was re-elected at the state elections in
2013 and
2017. In the latter election, he increased his majority to 25.2 percent, making Armadale the safest seat in the legislature. ==Geography==