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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Division Of Whitlam

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

Whitlam is a predominantly middle and working-class electorate that covers 1,331 square kilometres in the southern Illawarra and Southern Highlands.

The current MP is Stephen Jones, a member of the Australian Labor Party. Jones was born in Wollongong and was a trade 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

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. 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

2022 Australian federal election: Whitlam
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
Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Whitlam in the 2022 federal election. checkY indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.
  Labor
  Liberal
  National
  Greens
  United Australia Party
  One Nation

References

  1. ^ "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.

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