Division of Watson

Watson
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Watson in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created 1992
MP Tony Burke
Party Labor
Namesake Chris Watson
Electors 105,422 (2016)
Area 47 km2 (18.1 sq mi)
Demographic Inner Metropolitan

The Division of Watson is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was created at the redistribution of 31 January 1992, to replace the abolished Division of St George and is named after the Right Honourable Chris Watson, the first Labor Prime Minister of Australia. It was first contested at the 1993 federal election.

The division is located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, and includes the suburbs of Ashbury, Belfield, Burwood Heights, Chullora, Croydon Park, Enfield, Greenacre, Lakemba, Mount Lewis, Punchbowl, Roselands, Strathfield South, Wiley Park; as well as parts of Ashfield, Bankstown, Belmore, Beverly Hills, Burwood, Campsie, Canterbury, Croydon, Croydon Park, Hurlstone Park, Kingsgrove, Lidcombe, Narwee, Padstow, Riverwood, Rookwood, and Summer Hill.

The current Member for Watson, since the 2004 federal election, is Tony Burke, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

History

There was previously another Division of Watson (1934-69), originally Chris Watson's old seat of South Sydney and located in the south-eastern suburbs of Sydney, however that Division is not connected to this one except in name.

While St George was a marginal seat, Watson has been a safe Labor seat for nearly all of its existence. The only time that Labor's hold was seriously threatened was in 2010, when Labor was held to 56 percent of the two-party vote.

It has previously been held by Leo McLeay, a former Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.

Notably in 2017, the division had the second-highest percentage of "No" responses in the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 69.64% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "No".[1]

Members

MemberPartyTerm
  Leo McLeay Labor 1993–2004
  Tony Burke Labor 2004–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Watson[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labor Tony Burke 46,105 55.39 +4.84
Liberal Mohammad Zaman 21,133 25.39 −11.22
Christian Democrats Violet Abdulla 7,957 9.56 +7.19
Greens Barbara Bloch 5,555 6.67 +0.40
Science Tom Gordon 1,611 1.94 +1.94
Online Direct Democracy Paul Geran 875 1.05 +1.05
Total formal votes 83,236 89.35 +3.24
Informal votes 9,924 10.65 −3.24
Turnout 93,160 88.37 −3.05
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Tony Burke 56,247 67.58 +8.76
Liberal Mohammad Zaman 26,989 32.42 −8.76
Labor hold Swing +8.76

References

  1. ↑ "Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey 2017 Response Final". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 15 November 2017.
  2. ↑ Watson, NSW, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

Coordinates: 33°54′29″S 151°04′37″E / 33.908°S 151.077°E / -33.908; 151.077

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