Division of Werriwa

Australian federal electoral division

The Division of Werriwa is a Federal Electoral Division for the Australian House of Representatives in the state of New South Wales.

Werriwa
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Werriwa (green) in New South Wales
Created1901
MPAnne Stanley
PartyLabor
NamesakeLake George (Aboriginal name)
Area159 km2 (61.4 sq mi)
DemographicOuter Metropolitan

The name Werriwa is the local Aboriginal name for Lake George. The lake was in the division when the boundaries were drawn in 1900. The division was one of the original 75 divisions for Australia's first federal election in 1901. It covered a large rural area from the south west of Sydney to the northern part of what is now the ACT.

Over the years, the population around Sydney increased. The boundaries were redrawn and Werriwa became smaller in area. By 1913 Lake George was no longer included in the Dvision. Werriwa become a south-western Sydney suburban electorate over 150 km away from Lake George. It has kept the name of Werriwa, because it is an original Federation electorate. The Australian Electoral Commission tries to keep the names of original Federation electorates.

Werriwa now covers the suburbs of Austral, Bardia, Bow Bowing, Casula, Claymore, Denham Court, Edmondson Park, Eschol Park, Glenfield, Horningsea Park, Hoxton Park, Ingleburn, Leppington, Lurnea, Macquarie Fields, Minto, Minto Heights, Prestons, Raby, St Andrews and Varroville and parts of Liverpool, Leumeah and West Hoxton.

Members change

Member Party Term
  Alfred Conroy Free Trade 1901–1906
  David Hall Labor 1906–1912
  Benjamin Bennett Labor 1912–1913
  Alfred Conroy Commonwealth Liberal 1913–1914
  John Lynch Labor 1914–1916
  National Labor 1916–1917
  Nationalist 1917–1918
  Hubert Lazzarini Labor 1919-1931
  Lang Labor 1931–1931
  Walter McNicoll Country 1931–1934
  Hubert Lazzarini Lang Labor 1934–1936
  Labor 1936–1952
  Gough Whitlam Labor 1952–1978
  John Kerin Labor 1978–1994
  Mark Latham Labor 1994–2005
  Chris Hayes Labor 2005–2010
  Laurie Ferguson Labor 2010–present

It is a very safe seat for the Australian Labor Party (ALP), which has held it without a break since 1934.

Werriwa was the electorate (1952-78) of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. From 1994 to 2005 the Werriwa was held by one of Whitlam's former aides, Mark Latham. Latham was the leader of the ALP and Leader of the Opposition from 2003-2005.

In a by-election in March 2005, Labor's Chris Hayes was elected with over 55% of the vote. There were 16 other candidates but none got more than 8% of the vote.

Election results change

2022 Australian federal election: Werriwa[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Anne Stanley 40,108 39.86 −7.90
Liberal Sam Kayal 30,864 30.67 −4.60
Liberal Democrats Victor Tey 8,978 8.92 +8.92
United Australia Tony Nikolic 8,813 8.76 +4.56
Greens Apurva Shukla 6,772 6.73 +1.36
One Nation Adam Booke 5,096 5.06 +5.06
Total formal votes 100,631 90.18 +1.75
Informal votes 10,962 9.82 −1.75
Turnout 111,593 88.53 −2.00
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Anne Stanley 56,173 55.82 +0.35
Liberal Sam Kayal 44,458 44.18 −0.35
Labor hold Swing +0.35

References change

  1. Werriwa, NSW, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

Other websites change

Preceded by
Lowe
Division represented by the Prime Minister
1972-1975
Gough Whitlam
Succeeded by
Wannon

33°58′52″S 150°50′35″E / 33.981°S 150.843°E / -33.981; 150.843