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Division of Wentworth | Werriwa |
 Malcolm Turnbull (Lib) His ministerial website, his Liberal Party website and his campaign website  George Newhouse (ALP) His ALP website  Dixie Coulton (CCC) Her Climate Change website  Danielle Ecuyer (Ind) No website  Pierce Field (Dem) His Democrats website and his campaign website  Susan Jarnason (Grn) Her Greens website  Jonatan Kelu (LDP) His Liberty and Democracy website |
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Location: Sydney: Bondi, East Sydney, Vaucluse, Woollahra Division named for: William Wentworth, explorer, publisher, author and colonial politician Median weekly family income: $1,673 (3rd highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 17.8% (42nd highest) Persons in professional occupations: 47.7% (4th highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 14.4% (44th highest) Couple families with dependent children: 29.9% (145th highest) Dwellings being purchased: 12.6% (150th highest) Dwellings are flat, unit or apartment: 61.8% (1st highest) Sitting member: Hon Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal), elected 2004 Born: 24 October 1954, Sydney. Career: Journalist, barrister and solicitor, grazier, general counsel and secretary Consolidated Press Holdings Group, company director. Chair Australian Republican Movement 1993-2000. Federal Treasurer Liberal Party 2002-03. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister 2006-07 Minister for Environment and Water Resources from 30 January 2007 1996 two-party majority: Liberal 07.8 1998 two-party majority: Liberal 06.3 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 01.1 shift to Liberal 2001 two-party majority: Liberal 08.0 2004 primary votes: Labor 26.3, Liberal 41.8, Green 11.1 2004 two-party majority: Liberal 05.5 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 02.9 shift to Labor 2007 notional two-party majority: Liberal 02.6 2004 enrolment: 84,987 2007 enrolment: 100,276 (+18.0%) (new boundaries) Wentworth has existed since Federation, and has always covered Sydney's eastern harborside suburbs, one of the wealthiest areas in Australia. Before 1949 Wentworth extended as far south as Maroubra, and in 1943 Labor came quite close to winning it, but after 1949 it was one of the safest of Liberal seats. Since 1984, however, successive redistributions have extended Wentworth to the south, taking in Labor-voting Bondi and Waverley, making the seat less blue-ribbon Liberal. Despite this, the seat still has higher levels of median family income and of people in professional occupations than almost any other seat. Its fairly high proportion of people born in non English speaking countries largely reflects the European birthplaces of many people in the electorate's large Jewish community. The very low proportion of families with dependent children and of dwellings being purchased reflects the many affluent flat-dwelling singles in the seat, which has a large gay and lesbian community at the western end. In 2004 the Liberals polled over 70% of the two-party vote in Vaucluse (82%), Cooper Park, Darling Point, Dover Heights and Rose Bay Central, and also carried booths like Bellevue Hill, Rose Bay and Watsons Bay with large majorities. Labor polled best 61% at Bondi Beach and Clovelly Beach, and carried all the booths in Waverley and Randwick, although most of Randwick has now been removed from the seat. The booths added to the seat by the 2006 redistribution (Darlinghurst, Potts Point, Roslyn Gardens, St Vincents Hospital and Woolloomooloo), all voted heavily Labor in 2004. Wentworth is a traditional "leadership seat" for the conservative parties. Members have included Liberal ministers Sir Eric Harrison, Leslie Bury and Robert Ellicott, and Opposition Leader Dr John Hewson. Peter King won the seat in 2001, but lost his Liberal preselection in 2004 to Malcolm Turnbull, a millionaire banker and former leader of the Australian Republican Movement. In 2004 King ran as an Independent Liberal, but was defeated. Turnbull has been rapidly promoted and is now Minister for Environment and Water Resources. The 2006 redistribution has cut the Liberal majority to only 2.6% - although it seems likely that the real Liberal majority is larger than this, since the 2004 vote was distorted by King's candidacy. By September it seemed increasingly possible that Turnbull would be defeated in what was once one of the safest Liberal seats in Australia (see second link below). Candidates in ballot-paper order Campaign newsGeorge Newhouse Malcolm Turnbull |
|  Two-party vote by booth, 2004
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