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

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

Whitlam is an industrial and working-class electorate. It includes the cities of Wollongong and Shellharbour.[1] Whitlam covers 1,331 square kilometers in the southern Illawarra and NSW southern highlands.[1] Whitlam has voted Labor since its inception,[1] although it has started slowly to give small swings to the Liberal Party.

The current MP is Stephen Jones, a member of the Australian Labor Party. Jones was born in Wollongong and was a union official before being elected to Parliament in 2016.[1]

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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4] 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. Currently a minister in the Albanese Government

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Whitlam
2022 Australian federal election: Whitlam[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Stephen Jones 49,218 45.01 −3.79
Liberal Mike Cains 30,849 28.21 +2.75
Greens Jamie Dixon 11,779 10.77 +1.56
One Nation Colin Hughes 7,543 6.90 +6.90
United Australia Allan Wode 5,886 5.38 −3.46
Liberal Democrats Michael Wheeler 4,062 3.72 +3.72
Total formal votes 109,337 95.10 +2.35
Informal votes 5,637 4.90 −2.35
Turnout 114,974 91.69 −1.57
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Stephen Jones 65,683 60.07 −0.84
Liberal Mike Cains 43,654 39.93 +0.84
Labor hold Swing −0.84
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Primary vote results in Whitlam (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Labor
  Liberal
  National
  Greens
  United Australia Party
  One Nation
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Two-candidate-preferred vote results in Whitlam

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Whitlam - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  2. ^ Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Federal seat of Throsby to become Whitlam". ABC News. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  4. ^ Green, Antony. "2015–16 New South Wales Federal Redistribution". ABC News. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  5. ^ Whitlam, NSW, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

34°32′02″S 150°33′07″E / 34.534°S 150.552°E / -34.534; 150.552

Electoral divisions of the Australian House of Representatives in New South Wales
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