Division of Werriwa
| Werriwa Australian House of Representatives Division | |
|---|---|
 Division of Werriwa (green) in New South Wales | |
| Created | 1901 |
| MP | Laurie Ferguson |
| Party | Labor |
| Namesake | Lake George (Aboriginal name) |
| Electors | 96,054 (2013)[1] |
| Area | 159 km2 (61.4 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Outer Metropolitan |
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 75 divisions first contested at the first federal election.
Werriwa now covers an area in south-west Sydney including Austral, West Hoxton, Prestons, Lurnea and parts of Liverpool in the north, to Claymore and Minto Heights in the south, bounded by the Georges River to the east and generally by the Sydney Water Supply Channel, Raby Road, Rileys Creek, Anthony Road, Barry Avenue and Allenby Road to the west. The main suburbs include 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.
The current Member for Werriwa, since the 2010 federal election, is Laurie Ferguson, a member of the Australian Labor Party. Ferguson became the first new member elected at a general election since 1934.
History
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.[2]
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
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Laurie Ferguson | 34,117 | 44.09 | −4.48 | |
| Liberal | Kent Johns | 30,693 | 39.67 | +0.95 | |
| Palmer United | Katryna Thirup | 3,363 | 4.35 | +4.35 | |
| Christian Democrats | John Ramsay | 2,936 | 3.79 | +3.79 | |
| Greens | Daniel Griffiths | 2,532 | 3.27 | −9.43 | |
| Democratic Labour | Michael Byrne | 1,562 | 2.02 | +2.02 | |
| One Nation | Marella Harris | 1,519 | 1.96 | +1.96 | |
| Katter's Australian | Kerryn Ball | 657 | 0.85 | +0.85 | |
| Total formal votes | 77,379 | 87.13 | −2.52 | ||
| Informal votes | 11,433 | 12.87 | +2.52 | ||
| Turnout | 88,812 | 92.46 | +0.11 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Laurie Ferguson | 40,426 | 52.24 | −4.51 | |
| Liberal | Kent Johns | 36,953 | 47.76 | +4.51 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | −4.51 | |||
References
- ^ a b "NSW Division - Werriwa, NSW". Virtual Tally Room, Election 2013. Australian Electoral Commission. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
- ^ "Guidelines for naming divisions". Australian Electoral Commission. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2013.