Camden
New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Map
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
StateNew South Wales
Dates current1859–1920, 1981–current
MPSally Quinnell
PartyLabor
NamesakeCamden, New South Wales
Electors70,392 (2019)
Area228 km2 (88.0 sq mi)
DemographicOuter-metropolitan
Electorates around Camden:
Wollondilly Badgerys Creek Leppington
Wollondilly Camden Campbelltown
Wollondilly Wollondilly Campbelltown

Camden is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's south-west. It is currently represented by Sally Quinnell of the Labor party, who achieved a 13% swing in the 2023 election.

It currently includes the suburbs of Austral, Badgerys Creek, Bickley Vale, Bringelly, Camden, Camden Park, Camden South, Catherine Field, Cawdor, Cobbitty, Currans Hill, Elderslie, Ellis Lane, Gledswood Hills, Grasmere, Greendale, Gregory Hills, Harrington Park, Kirkham, Leppington, Luddenham, Mount Annan, Narellan, Narellan Vale, Oran Park, Rossmore, Smeaton Grange, Spring Farm, Wallacia and West Hoxton.[1]

History

Camden was originally created in 1859, replacing part of West Camden and named after the town of Camden or Camden County, which includes Camden, the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra. It elected two members from 1859 to 1889 and three members from 1889 to 1894, when multi-member electorates were abolished. It was abolished in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation and absorbed into Cumberland. It was recreated in 1981.[2] In recent decades it has been a marginal seat, falling to both the Labor and Liberal parties on separate occasions. Except in 1984-91 and 1995-2003, Camden in its second incarnation, has been held by the government party.

Camden was evident as a bellwether seat at the 1991 election when the ALP lost the seat to the Liberal Party despite the former party making huge gains at that election which was close but not enough for them to win the election. If the ALP had retained Camden in 1991, the party would have been in a strong position to form a minority government when it then won The Entrance by-election in 1992.

Members for Camden

First incarnation (1859–1889, 2 members)
Member Party Term Member Party Term
  Henry Oxley None 1859–1860   William Wild None 1859–1860
John Morrice None 1860–1872 John Douglas None 1860–1861
David Bell None 1861–1864
Richard Roberts None 1864–1869
Arthur Onslow None 1869–1880
Thomas Garrett None 1872–1887
John Kidd None 1880–1882
William McCourt None 1882–1885
John Kidd None 1885–1887
  Free Trade 1887–1889   William McCourt Free Trade 1887–1889
1889–1894, 3 members
Member Party Term Member Party Term Member Party Term
  Thomas Garrett Free Trade 1889–1891   William McCourt Free Trade 1889–1894   John Kidd Protectionist 1889–1894
  William Cullen Free Trade 1891–1894
1894–1920, 1 member
Member Party Term
  John Kidd Protectionist 1894–1895
  Charles Bull Free Trade 1895–1898
  John Kidd Protectionist 1898–1901
  Progressive 1901–1904
  Fred Downes Liberal Reform 1904–1913
  John Hunt Liberal Reform 1913–1917
  Nationalist 1917–1920
 
Second incarnation (1981–present, 1 member)
Member Party Term
  Ralph Brading Labor 1981–1984
  John Fahey Liberal 1984–1988
  Peter Primrose Labor 1988–1991
  Liz Kernohan Liberal 1991–2003
  Geoff Corrigan Labor 2003–2011
  Chris Patterson Liberal 2011–2019
  Peter Sidgreaves Liberal 2019–2023
  Sally Quinnell Labor 2023–present


Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Camden
2023 New South Wales state election: Camden[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Sally Quinnell 21,945 40.6 +11.2
Liberal Peter Sidgreaves 19,686 36.4 −5.7
One Nation Garry Dollin 7,437 13.8 +0.4
Greens Emily Rivera 3,136 5.8 +1.7
Sustainable Australia Jessie Bijok 1,868 3.5 +2.2
Total formal votes 54,072 96.3 0.0
Informal votes 2,056 3.7 +0.0
Turnout 56,128 90.7 +3.8
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Sally Quinnell 25,060 53.0 +10.3
Liberal Peter Sidgreaves 22,222 47.0 −10.3
Labor gain from Liberal Swing +10.3

References

  1. ^ "Camden". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  2. ^ Green, Antony. "Elections for the District of Camden 1859-2007". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  3. ^ LA First Preference: Camden, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  4. ^ LA Two Candidate Preferred: Camden, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
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