Division of Whitlam

The Division of Whitlam is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Whitlam
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Whitlam in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created2016
MPStephen Jones
PartyAustralian Labor Party
NamesakeGough Whitlam
Electors125,535 (2022)
Area1,331 km2 (513.9 sq mi)
DemographicProvincial

Geography

Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia are 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.[1]

History
Gough Whitlam, the division's namesake

The division, previously named Throsby, was renamed in honour of Gough Whitlam, the Prime Minister of Australia from 1972–75, in a February 2016 electoral distribution.[2] It came into effect from 2 July 2016, the date of the 2016 Australian federal election.

ABC election analyst Antony Green estimated that boundary changes to Throsby would reduce the Australian Labor Party's notional two-party-preferred margin from 7.8 to 6.9 percentage points.[3] Despite this, the last member for Throsby, Stephen Jones, easily retained the seat with a healthy swing of over six points.

Whitlam has a strong working-class character due to the presence of industries such as steelmaking, coal mining and stevedoring. The Illawarra is one of the few non-metropolitan regions where Labor consistently does well.

Members
Image Member Party Term Notes
  Stephen Jones
(1965–)		 Labor 2 July 2016 –
present		 Previously held the Division of Throsby. Incumbent

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Whitlam
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Whitlam.[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Whitlam[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Stephen Jones 50,102 48.80 −3.96
National Stephen Wentworth 26,145 25.48 +19.04
Greens Jamie Dixon 9,461 9.22 +0.93
United Australia Angelo Cuda 9,071 8.84 +8.84
Christian Democrats Frank Nero 4,214 4.11 0.00
Sustainable Australia Ken Davis 3,678 3.58 +3.58
Total formal votes 102,671 92.75 −1.84
Informal votes 8,020 7.25 +1.84
Turnout 110,691 93.26 +0.38
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Stephen Jones 62,541 60.91 −2.81
National Stephen Wentworth 40,130 39.09 +39.09
Labor hold SwingN/A

References
  1. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. "Federal seat of Throsby to become Whitlam". ABC News. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  3. Green, Antony. "2015–16 New South Wales Federal Redistribution". ABC News. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  4. Whitlam, NSW, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.