Division of Sydney

Sydney Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Sydney in New South Wales, as of the 2019 federal election.
Created	1968
MP	Tanya Plibersek
Party	Labor
Namesake	Sydney
Electors	114,239 (2019)
Area	44 km2 (17.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

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

History[]

The city of Sydney, the division's namesake

The division draws its name from Sydney, the most populous city in Australia, which itself was named after former British Home Secretary Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. The division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 21 November 1968, replacing the old Division of Dalley, Division of East Sydney and Division of West Sydney, and was first contested at the 1969 election.

The seat is a safe Labor seat; the Labor Party has never polled less than 60% of the two-party preferred vote at any election. Following a national trend towards progressive inner-city voting, the seat had the highest number of Green votes in any federal electorate in 2004, though by 2013 it had dropped to seventh-highest. The current Member for the Division of Sydney, since the 1998 federal election, is Tanya Plibersek, a member of the Australian Labor Party and former Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Sydney is currently Labor's third safest seat, with 68.67% on the 2PP.

As at the 2001 census, the electorate had the highest number of same-sex couples in Australia (2,265).^[1]

Boundaries[]

The division is located around the City of Sydney and includes many inner suburbs such as Alexandria, Beaconsfield, Broadway, Chippendale, Darlington, Erskineville, Forest Lodge, Glebe, Haymarket, Millers Point, Pyrmont, Redfern, Rosebery, The Rocks, Ultimo, Waterloo, Zetland and parts of Annandale, Camperdown and Newtown in the Inner West, as well as Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Potts Point, Woolloomooloo and Kings Cross in the Eastern Suburbs. Lord Howe Island, within the Tasman Sea and some 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-east of the Sydney central business district, is located within the division; as are the harbour islands from Spectacle Island to the Sydney Heads, and all the waters of Port Jackson, except for Middle Harbour and North Harbour.^[2]

Members[]

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Jim Cope (1907–1999)	Labor	25 October 1969 – 11 November 1975	Previously held the Division of Watson. Served as Speaker during the Whitlam Government. Retired
		Les McMahon (1930–2015)	Labor	13 December 1975 – 4 February 1983	Lost preselection and retired
		Peter Baldwin (1951–)	Labor	5 March 1983 – 31 August 1998	Previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Retired
		Tanya Plibersek (1969–)	Labor	3 October 1998 – present	Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Incumbent

Election results[]

References[]

External links[]

• Division of Sydney - Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 33°53′42″S 151°12′00″E / 33.895°S 151.200°E / -33.895; 151.200