Division of Werriwa

The Division of Werriwa is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The name Werriwa derives from a local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which was located in the division when it was established in 1900. The division was one of the original 65 divisions first contested at the first federal election.

Werriwa
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Werriwa in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created1901
MPAnne Stanley
PartyLabor
NamesakeLake George (Aboriginal name)
Electors117,739 (2019)
Area172 km2 (66.4 sq mi)
DemographicOuter Metropolitan

Werriwa now covers an area in south-west Sydney, including the suburbs of Ashcroft, Austral, Bonnyrigg Heights, Busby, Carnes Hill, Cartwright, Casula, Cecil Hills, Edmondson Park, Glenfield, Green Valley, Heckenberg, Hinchinbrook, Horningsea Park, Hoxton Park, Long Point, Lurnea, Macquarie Fields, Macquarie Links, Middleton Grange, Miller, Minto, Prestons, Sadleir, and West Hoxton; as well as parts of Badgerys Creek, Bonnyrigg, Bringelly, Cecil Park, Denham Court, Ingleburn, Kemps Creek, Leppington, Mount Pritchard, and Rossmore.

The current Member for Werriwa, since the 2016 federal election, is Anne Stanley, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

History

Lake George, the Aboriginal name of which is the division's namesake

Originally, Werriwa was a large and mostly rural electorate that stretched from southwest Sydney to the northern part of what is now the ACT, and included the Southern Highlands, Goulburn and part of the South West Slopes. In succeeding years following its establishment, with demographic change and electoral redistributions, Werriwa began to shrink and from 1913 onwards no longer contained Lake George. It underwent several other major changes to its borders over the years. The 1949 expansion of Parliament saw Werriwa lose most of its remaining rural territory to the newly created Division of Macarthur and move to approximately its current position in southwest Sydney, over 150 kilometres (93 mi) away from Lake George. However, it has retained the name of Werriwa, primarily as it is an original Federation electorate—the Australian Electoral Commission's guidelines on electoral redistributions require it to preserve the names of original Federation electorates where possible.[1]

It is a very safe seat for Labor, which has held it continuously since 1934 and for all but nine years since 1906.

Werriwa is best remembered for being the electorate of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who held it from 1952 to 1978. It was represented from 1994 to 2005 by one of Whitlam's former aides, Mark Latham, the leader of the ALP and Leader of the Opposition from 2003 to 2005. It more recent times, a by-election in March 2005 resulted in Labor's Chris Hayes elected with over 55% of the vote, in a 16-candidate race which saw no other candidate poll above 8%.

Members

Image Member Party Term Notes
  Alfred Conroy
(1864–1920)
Free Trade 29 March 1901
1906
Lost seat
  Anti-Socialist 1906 –
12 December 1906
  David Hall
(1874–1945)
Labour 12 December 1906
1 April 1912
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Gunnedah. Resigned in order to become a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
  Benjamin Bennett
(1872–1939)
Labor 1 June 1912
23 April 1913
Retired
  Alfred Conroy
(1864–1920)
Commonwealth Liberal 31 May 1913
5 September 1914
Lost seat
  John Lynch
(1862–1941)
Labor 5 September 1914
14 November 1916
Lost seat
  National Labor 14 November 1916
17 February 1917
  Nationalist 17 February 1917 –
13 December 1919
  Bert Lazzarini
(1884–1952)
Labor 13 December 1919
27 March 1931
Lost seat
  Labor (NSW) 27 March 1931
19 December 1931
  Walter McNicoll
(1877–1947)
Country 19 December 1931
14 September 1934
Resigned in order to become Administrator of the Territory of New Guinea
  Bert Lazzarini
(1884–1952)
Labor (NSW) 15 September 1934
February 1936
Served as minister under Curtin, Forde and Chifley. Died in office
  Labor February 1936 –
1 October 1952
  Gough Whitlam
(1916–2014)
Labor 29 November 1952
31 July 1978
Served as Opposition Leader from 1967 to 1972, and from 1975 to 1977. Served as Prime Minister from 1972 to 1975. Resigned in order to retire from politics
  John Kerin
(1937–)
Labor 23 September 1978
22 December 1993
Previously held the Division of Macarthur. Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Resigned in order to retire from politics
  Mark Latham
(1961–)
Labor 28 January 1994
18 January 2005
Served as Opposition Leader from 2003 to 2005. Resigned in order to retire from politics. Later elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 2019
  Chris Hayes
(1955–)
Labor 19 March 2005
21 August 2010
Transferred to the Division of Fowler
  Laurie Ferguson
(1952–)
Labor 21 August 2010
9 May 2016
Previously held the Division of Reid. Retired
  Anne Stanley
(1961–)
Labor 2 July 2016
present
Incumbent

Election results

2019 Australian federal election: Werriwa[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Anne Stanley 45,002 47.76 −4.38
Liberal Shayne Miller 33,234 35.27 −1.29
Greens Signe Westerberg 5,060 5.37 +0.77
Christian Democrats Narelle Storey 4,841 5.14 −1.56
United Australia Ignatios Tsiriplis 3,957 4.20 +4.20
Independent Michael White 2,135 2.27 +2.27
Total formal votes 94,229 88.43 −2.81
Informal votes 12,324 11.57 +2.81
Turnout 106,553 90.53 +0.31
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Anne Stanley 52,270 55.47 −2.73
Liberal Shayne Miller 41,959 44.53 +2.73
Labor hold Swing−2.73

References

  1. "Guidelines for naming divisions". Australian Electoral Commission. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  2. Werriwa, NSW, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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