Division Of Whitlam
Whitlam is a predominantly middle and working-class electorate that covers 1,331 square kilometers in the southern Illawarra and NSW southern highlands.
The current MP is Stephen Jones, a member of the Australian Labor Party. Jones was born in Wollongong and was a union official before first being elected to Parliament in 2010.
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.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Gough_Whitlam_1972_%28cropped%29.jpg/150px-Gough_Whitlam_1972_%28cropped%29.jpg)
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. 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. 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 in the Illawarra.
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
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. |
- National
![]() | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |