Division of Bradfield

Dr. John Bradfield, the division's namesake

Bradfield was created in the 1949 expansion of Parliament, and was named in honour of Dr John Bradfield,[1] the designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Its first member was Billy Hughes, a former Prime Minister of Australia and the last serving member of the first federal Parliament. The bulk of the seat was carved out of North Sydney, which Hughes represented from 1923 to 1949. After Hughes, its best-known member was Brendan Nelson, a minister in the third and fourth Howard Governments and the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008. The current Member for Bradfield, since the 2009 Bradfield by-election, is Paul Fletcher, a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Located in the traditional Liberal stronghold of Sydney's North Shore, Bradfield has been in Liberal hands for its entire existence, and for most of that time has been reckoned as a very safe Liberal seat.[2] Indeed, the only time that the Liberal hold on the seat has been even remotely threatened was at a 1952 by-election when the Liberals were held to 58 percent of the two-party vote–the only time that the Liberals have been held below 60 percent of the two-party vote. Even in 1952, the Liberals still won more than enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences.

For many years, Bradfield was the safest Coalition seat in metropolitan Australia. After the 2013 federal election, Bradfield became the second-safest, behind neighboring Mitchell, with a 20 percent swing required for Labor to win it.[3] However, as of the 2016 federal election, Bradfield is once again the safest metropolitan Coalition seat, with a 21-point swing needed for Labor to win it.[4]

The electorate is located in the upper North Shore and covers an area of approximately 101 km², covering the suburbs Castle Cove, East Killara, East Lindfield, Gordon, Killara, Lindfield, North Turramurra, North Wahroonga, Pymble, Roseville, Roseville Chase, South Turramurra, St Ives, St Ives Chase, Turramurra, Wahroonga, Waitara, Warrawee, and West Pymble; as well as parts of Asquith, Chatswood, Chatswood West, Hornsby, Mount Colah, and Normanhurst. The electorate has undergone minor boundary changes, with the latest redistribution in 2016 shifting slightly south, gaining Castle Cove and parts of Chatswood from North Sydney while losing parts of Thornleigh, Normanhurst and Hornsby.

As at the 2011 Census, households within the Division of Bradfield had the highest level of median weekly household income of any electorate in Australia.[5]

• Division of Bradfield - Australian Electoral Commission