| Gellibrand |
Division of Gilmore | Gippsland |
 Joanna Gash (Lib) Her Liberal Party website and her campaign website  Neil Reilly (ALP) His ALP website  Kevin Ramsey (LDP) His Liberty and Democracy website  Ben van der Wijngaart (Grn) His Greens website |
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Location: South Coast NSW: Bateman's Bay, Kiama, Milton, Nowra Division named for: Dame Mary Gilmore, poet Median weekly family income: $655 (145th highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 4.7% (112th highest) Persons in professional occupations: 22.1% (109th highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 19.8% (3rd highest) Couple families with dependent children: 31.7% (141st highest) Dwellings being purchased: 20.3% (126th highest) Sitting member: Joanna Gash (Liberal), elected 996, 1998, 2001, 2004 Born: 21 July 1944, Netherlands. Career: Guest house co-proprietor, Regional Manager Tourism Commission of NSW, Director Southern Highlands Tourism Agency, Consultant Macarthur Country Tourist Association. Councillor, Wingecarribee Shire Council Deputy Government Whip from 23 November 2001 1996 two-party majority: Liberal 06.2 1998 two-party majority: Liberal 04.0 Effect of 2001 redistribution: 00.5 shift to Liberal 2001 two-party majority: Liberal 14.7 2004 primary votes: Labor 31.0, Liberal 54.6, Green 7.8 2004 two-party majority: Liberal 10.1 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 00.6 shift to Labor 2007 notional two-party majority: Liberal 09.5 2004 enrolment: 87,620 2007 enrolment: 87,536 (-00.1%) (new boundaries) Gilmore was created in 1984, originally as a country seat running inland from the coast to Goulburn. The 1993 redistribution turned it into a coastal seat based on Nowra and Kiama. On those boundaries it was a marginal seat, but it has grown safer for the Liberals since 1996. It is now mainly a farming, tourism and retirement seat, with a the country's third-highest proportion of over-65s and low levels of median family income, families with dependent children and dwellings being purchased. In 2004 the Liberals carried every booth except Erowal Bay and Manyana, polling 70% of the two-party vote in some rural booths (73% in Avoca). Nowra voted solidly Liberal, Kiama marginally so. The 2006 redistribution has removed Liberal-voting Moss Vale and addded marginally Liberal Bateman's Bay. Members for Gilmore have been John Sharp (National) 1984-93, Peter Knott (Labor) 1993-96, and Joanna Gash (Liberal) since 1996. Knott was a notably eccentric candidate, and his attempt to regain the seat in 2001 produced the biggest swing to the Liberals of any seat in Australia: the 4.6% swing to Labor in 2004 was mainly a correction after that unusual result. Gash turns 63 this year, but there has been no public suggestion that she will retire. Although this seat elected a Labor MP as recently as 1993, it seems now to be secure for the Liberals against all but the largest swings. Candidates in ballot-paper order Candidates on YouTube | 
Two-party vote by booth, 2004
Click to enlarge map
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