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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Mitchell, New South Wales
North-western Sydney: Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Kellyville, Winston Hills
Sitting member: Hon Alex Hawke (Liberal), elected 2004
Enrolment at close of rolls: 102,453
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 21.4%
2016 notional Liberal majority over Labor: 21.4%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Andrew Punch
Australian Labor Party |
2. Darryl Allen
Christian Democrats |
3. Hon Alex Hawke
Liberal Party |
4. Michael Bellstedt
Australian Greens |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Mitchell was created in 1949, based in the outer north-western suburbs of Sydney and the towns of the Hawkesbury district. Until 1977 it included some working-class suburbs around Blacktown and Toongabbie and was a marginal seat. Since then it has consisted of a block of suburbs running north from Baulkham Hills. These are among the most affluent suburbs in Australia, and have a very high proportion of families with dependent children and of dwellings being purchased: Mitchell is the ultimate high income mortgage belt seat. This area is also in the heart of Sydney's "Bible belt" of suburbs with strong evangelical Christian communities. These factors have made Mitchell one of the safest Liberal seats in Australia: it is now the Liberals' safest urban seat.
Alan Cadman won Mitchell for the Liberals in 1974 and held it for over 30 years. His long career on the backbench was interrupted by four years as a shadow minister in the 1980s and two years as a Parliamentary Secretary. He narrowly survived a pre-selection challenge in 2004 and retired in 2007.
Alex Hawke, Liberal MP for Mitchell since 2007, had spent six years as an adviser to
state and federal MPs before his election. Partly because of his reputation as a
factional warrior, he had to wait some time to be promoted. He has been Assistant
Minister to the Treasurer since 2015. His Labor opponent is Andrew Punch, a software
engineer. The seat has been only slightly changed by the 2016 redistribution.
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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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