Division of Whitlam

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Whitlam
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Whitlam 2025.svg
Division of Whitlam
Interactive map of electorate boundaries from the 2025 federal election
Created2016
MP Carol Berry
Party Labor
Namesake Gough Whitlam
Electors 130,155 (2025)
Area2,966 km2 (1,145.2 sq mi)
DemographicProvincial

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

Contents

Whitlam is a predominantly middle and working-class electorate that covers 2,966 square kilometres in the southern Illawarra and the Southern Highlands. [1]

The current MP is Carol Berry, a member of the Australian Labor Party. It was previously held by Stephen Jones, also 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. [1]

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. [2]

Whitlam includes Shellharbour City, Wingecarribee Shire and part of Wollongong City, including Dapto. [3]

Whitlam has a strong working-class character due to the presence of industries such as steelmaking, coal mining and stevedoring in the Illawarra.

History

Gough Whitlam, the division's namesake Gough Whitlam at the Lodge 1974.jpg
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. [4] 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. [5] Despite this, the last member for Throsby, Stephen Jones, easily retained the seat with a healthy swing of over six points.

At the 2024 redistribution, Whitlam gained the balance of Wingecarribee Shire from Hume and lost some territory north and east of Lake Illawarra to Cunningham. [6]

Members

ImageMemberPartyTermNotes
  Stephen Jones MP July 2014.jpg Stephen Jones
(1965–)		 Labor 2 July 2016 –
28 March 2025 		Previously held the Division of Throsby. Served as minister under Albanese. Retired
  Labor Placeholder.png Carol Berry Labor 3 May 2025 – presentIncumbent

Election results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Whitlam.[ edit ]
2025 Australian federal election: Whitlam [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labor Carol Berry 42,23038.63−3.76
Liberal Nathaniel Smith 30,90828.27−1.56
Greens Jamie Dixon13,55812.40+1.96
One Nation Sharon Cousins8,3797.66+0.78
Independent Ben Britton5,2464.80+4.80
Trumpet of Patriots Angelo Cuda3,1012.84+2.84
Independent Paddy Moylan2,2112.02+2.02
Independent Glenn Butterfield1,9051.74+1.74
Libertarian Raymond Khoury1,1881.09−2.42
Citizens Cheryl Hinton5900.54+0.54
Total formal votes109,31690.18−5.06
Informal votes11,9099.82+5.06
Turnout 121,22593.18+4.12
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Carol Berry 61,48656.25−2.06
Liberal Nathaniel Smith 47,83043.75+2.06
Labor hold Swing −2.06

References

  1. 1 2 "Whitlam - Federal Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  2. ↑ Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  3. ↑ "Map of the Commonwealth Electoral Division of Whitlam" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. October 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  4. ↑ "Federal seat of Throsby to become Whitlam". ABC News. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Green, Antony. "2015–16 New South Wales Federal Redistribution". ABC News. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "Map of the Proposed Commonwealth Electoral Divisions of Cook, Cunningham, Hughes, Hume, Macarthur, Werriwa and Whitlam" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  7. ↑ Whitlam, NSW, 2025 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

34°32′02″S150°33′07″E / 34.534°S 150.552°E / -34.534; 150.552

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