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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Berowra, New South Wales
Northern Sydney: Berowra, Galston, Hornsby, Pennant Hills
Sitting member: Hon Phillip Ruddock (Liberal), elected 1973. Retiring 2016
Enrolment at close of rolls: 105,292
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 19.0%
2016 notional Liberal majority over Labor: 19.0%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Julian Leeser
Liberal Party |
2. Josh Andrews
Australian Labor Party |
3. Mick Gallagher
Independent |
4. Emma Heyde
Australian Greens |
5. Roger Woodward
Independent |
6. Brendan Clarke
Science Party |
7. Leighton Thew
Christian Democrats |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Berowra was created in 1969, in the fast-growing outer north-western suburbs of Sydney, and its boundaries have not changed much since, although it has gradually expanded out to the north-west. It is one of the wealthiest seats in Australia, with one of the highest levels of people in professional occupations, and also a high level of traditional families with children. It has the second-highest proportion of families with dependent children of any electorate.
These factors make Berowra a safe Liberal seat, and indeed Labor has never come close to winning it. In 2013 Labor won only booth, Dangar Island, which has 126 voters. Previous members for Berowra have been Tom Hughes, Attorney-General in the Gorton government, and Dr Harry Edwards, who had several stints on the opposition front bench but never achieved office. He retired in 1993 and was succeeded by Phillip Ruddock.
Phillip Ruddock, Liberal MP for Parramatta from 1973 to 1977, for Dundas from 1977 to 1993 and for Berowra since 1993, was a solicitor when he won the Parramatta by-election in 1973, aged 30. He sat out the Fraser Government, but was on the opposition front bench from 1983. In the Howard Government he was first Immigration Minister and then Attorney-General. In the Abbott Government he was Chief Government Whip until 2015. He is by far the longest-serving member of the current Parliament and the second-longest-serving member ever, with only Billy Hughes ahead of him. Although he was keen to run again in 2016, at 73, the Liberal Party made it clear it was time to retire.
His successor is Julian Leeser, a former staffer to both Ruddock and Abbott, and currently Director of Government Policy and Strategy at the Australian Catholic University. Earlier he was Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre, a Liberal Party think-tank, and a member of Woollahra Municipal Council. This is a perfect pedigree for an ambitious Liberal in a safe seat, and Leeser can expect a long tenure in Berowra. Berowra has been only
slightly changed by the 2016 redistribution. The Labor candidate is Josh Andrews.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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