Division of Bennelong
Encyclopedia
The Division of Bennelong is an Australian electorate in New South Wales
. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Bennelong
, an Aboriginal
man befriended by the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip
. Bennelong is based in Northern Sydney, including the suburbs of Eastwood
, Carlingford
, Epping
and Ryde
, and was held by the Liberal Party
from its creation until its swing to Labor
in the 2007 election. The Liberal Party regained the seat at the 2010 election.
, Hunters Hill
and Lane Cove
, all of which were (and still are) relatively affluent areas, and as such it has historically been a "safe" Liberal seat.
Over the years Bennelong has evolved into a marginal seat, and this has been attributed to two factors. Firstly, the electoral boundary of Bennelong has been redrawn ("redistributed") numerous times, to exclude the wealthy Lane Cove and Hunters Hill in the East, and to incorporate Eastwood
, Epping
, Carlingford
and working class Ermington
in the North and West. Secondly, the demographic has changed as well: since the early 1990s, Eastwood and surrounding suburbs have seen an influx of migrants from China
, Hong Kong
, South Korea
and India
, who are relatively affluent and conservative, but are sensitive towards political policies on immigration
and multiculturalism
.
in Bennelong's boundaries. The Greens increased their vote at this election by 12.34% to 16.37% at this election due to the preselection of the high-profile Andrew Wilkie
.
In the 2007 election, the incumbent Member for Bennelong, then-Prime Minister John Howard
, lost the seat to Labor
candidate Maxine McKew
, after holding it for 33 years. This was only the second time in Australian history that an incumbent Prime Minister had been defeated in their own electorate, the first being Stanley Bruce
in 1929. The election marked the first time a Labor candidate won, and also the first time a woman won the seat.
In his national address conceding the election, Howard had admitted that it was "very likely" that he had lost the seat. Following initial reluctance to officially call the outcome (despite confidence of success), McKew declared victory officially on December 1. At that time, the Australian Electoral Commission showed McKew ahead on a two candidate preferred basis, 43,272 votes to 41,159; however, pre-poll, postal and absent votes were still being counted and could possibly have affected the outcome.
Howard formally conceded defeat in Bennelong on December 12. The Electoral Commission has declared the seat, with 44,685 votes for McKew to 42,251 for Howard; voter turnout in Bennelong was 95%.
pre-selected former tennis professional and tennis commentator John Alexander to contest the marginal seat. McKew recontested the seat for Labor. After a long and high profile campaign in the former Prime Minister's seat, Alexander and the Liberals attained the seat from Labor and increased both their two party preferred
and primary vote for the first time since 2001 and the largest swing towards the Liberals since 1996. Alexander defeated McKew with a 2PP swing of 4.52%, contributing to the Gillard Governments loss of its parliamentary majority.
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Bennelong
Bennelong
Woollarawarre Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia, in 1788...
, an Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
man befriended by the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip
Admiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...
. Bennelong is based in Northern Sydney, including the suburbs of Eastwood
Eastwood, New South Wales
Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the City of Parramatta...
, Carlingford
Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlingford is located 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the The Hills Shire, Hornsby Shire and the City of Parramatta...
, Epping
Epping, New South Wales
Epping is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Epping is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde, the City of Parramatta and Hornsby Shire and is located in the Northern...
and Ryde
Ryde, New South Wales
Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Ryde and part of the Northern Suburbs area...
, and was held by the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
from its creation until its swing to Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
in the 2007 election. The Liberal Party regained the seat at the 2010 election.
Electoral history
When the Division of Bennelong was created in 1949, it covered mainly the suburbs of RydeRyde, New South Wales
Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ryde is located 13 km north-west of the Sydney central business district and 8 km east of Parramatta. Ryde is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Ryde and part of the Northern Suburbs area...
, Hunters Hill
Hunters Hill, New South Wales
Hunters Hill is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hunters Hill is located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Hunter's Hill.Hunters Hill is situated on a...
and Lane Cove
Lane Cove, New South Wales
Lane Cove is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. An affluent suburb, Lane Cove is located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Lane...
, all of which were (and still are) relatively affluent areas, and as such it has historically been a "safe" Liberal seat.
Over the years Bennelong has evolved into a marginal seat, and this has been attributed to two factors. Firstly, the electoral boundary of Bennelong has been redrawn ("redistributed") numerous times, to exclude the wealthy Lane Cove and Hunters Hill in the East, and to incorporate Eastwood
Eastwood, New South Wales
Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the City of Parramatta...
, Epping
Epping, New South Wales
Epping is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Epping is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde, the City of Parramatta and Hornsby Shire and is located in the Northern...
, Carlingford
Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlingford is located 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the The Hills Shire, Hornsby Shire and the City of Parramatta...
and working class Ermington
Ermington, New South Wales
Ermington is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ermington is located 19 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. Ermington lies on the northern bank of the Parramatta River.-Aboriginal culture:The area now...
in the North and West. Secondly, the demographic has changed as well: since the early 1990s, Eastwood and surrounding suburbs have seen an influx of migrants from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, who are relatively affluent and conservative, but are sensitive towards political policies on immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
.
2004 election
The two-party preferred vote for the Liberals declined 3.4% in the 2004 election, contrary to a strong national trend to the coalition (and a particularly strong one to the Coalition in outer-suburban metropolitan seats), making Bennelong a marginal seat at that time, with a margin of just 4.3%. The 2006 redistribution pushed this margin slightly further into Labor territory, due to the inclusion of the predominantly working class and public housing suburb of ErmingtonErmington, New South Wales
Ermington is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Ermington is located 19 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. Ermington lies on the northern bank of the Parramatta River.-Aboriginal culture:The area now...
in Bennelong's boundaries. The Greens increased their vote at this election by 12.34% to 16.37% at this election due to the preselection of the high-profile Andrew Wilkie
Andrew Wilkie
Andrew Damien Wilkie is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Denison...
.
2007 election
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, lost the seat to Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
candidate Maxine McKew
Maxine McKew
Maxine Margaret McKew , is a former Australian politician and journalist; she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the Rudd Ministry and the First Gillard Ministry. Between 2007 and 2010, she was the member of the House of...
, after holding it for 33 years. This was only the second time in Australian history that an incumbent Prime Minister had been defeated in their own electorate, the first being Stanley Bruce
Stanley Bruce
Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
in 1929. The election marked the first time a Labor candidate won, and also the first time a woman won the seat.
In his national address conceding the election, Howard had admitted that it was "very likely" that he had lost the seat. Following initial reluctance to officially call the outcome (despite confidence of success), McKew declared victory officially on December 1. At that time, the Australian Electoral Commission showed McKew ahead on a two candidate preferred basis, 43,272 votes to 41,159; however, pre-poll, postal and absent votes were still being counted and could possibly have affected the outcome.
Howard formally conceded defeat in Bennelong on December 12. The Electoral Commission has declared the seat, with 44,685 votes for McKew to 42,251 for Howard; voter turnout in Bennelong was 95%.
Polls
| Date | Poller | Coalition Coalition (Australia) The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922... | Labor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 October 1998 | 1998 election | 56.03% | 43.97% |
| 4–5 April 2001 | Roy Morgan Roy Morgan Research Roy Morgan Research is an Australian market research company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria; it was founded in 1941 by Roy Morgan ; its Executive Chairman today is his son, Gary Morgan.... |
57% | 43% |
| 10 November 2001 | 2001 election | 57.70% | 42.30% |
| 9 October 2004 | 2004 election | 54.33% | 45.67% |
| 14–15 February 2007 | Roy Morgan | 45% | 55% |
| 9–10 May 2007 | Galaxy Galaxy Research Galaxy Research is an Australian market researching company which has expanded into providing opinion polling for State and Federal politics. It is principally managed by David Briggs... |
48% | 52% |
| 8–9 August 2007 | Galaxy | 47% | 53% |
2010 election
For the 2010 Federal election, the Liberal PartyLiberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
pre-selected former tennis professional and tennis commentator John Alexander to contest the marginal seat. McKew recontested the seat for Labor. After a long and high profile campaign in the former Prime Minister's seat, Alexander and the Liberals attained the seat from Labor and increased both their two party preferred
Two-party-preferred vote
In politics, the two-party-preferred vote , or two-candidate-preferred vote , in an election or opinion poll uses preferential voting to express the electoral result after the distribution of preferences...
and primary vote for the first time since 2001 and the largest swing towards the Liberals since 1996. Alexander defeated McKew with a 2PP swing of 4.52%, contributing to the Gillard Governments loss of its parliamentary majority.
Members
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Cramer | Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
1949 Australian federal election, 1949 Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives, and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, where the single transferable vote was introduced... —1974 Australian federal election, 1974 Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution... |
|
| John Howard John Howard John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies.... |
Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
1974 Australian federal election, 1974 Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution... —2007 |
|
| Maxine McKew Maxine McKew Maxine Margaret McKew , is a former Australian politician and journalist; she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the Rudd Ministry and the First Gillard Ministry. Between 2007 and 2010, she was the member of the House of... |
Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia... |
2007—2010 | |
| John Alexander | Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
2010—present | |