Adam Carr's Election Archive

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Australian federal election, 2019
Division of Chifley, New South Wales

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North-western Sydney: Arndell Park, Dharruk, Marayong, Mt Druitt, Rooty Hill
State seats: Parts of Blacktown, Londonderry, Prospect and Riverstone
Local government areas: Parts of Blacktown

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Enrolment at close of rolls: 112,069

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1999 republic referendum: No 57.9
2018 same-sex marriage survey: No 5.7

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Sitting member: Hon Ed Husic (Labor): Elected 2010, 2013, 2016

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2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 20.7%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 12.3%
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 10.6%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 19.4%

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Status: Very safe Labor

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2016 results

Statistics and history

Candidates in ballot-paper order:

1. Josh Green Christian Democratic Party	2. Amar Aziz Khan	3. Joseph O'Connor United Australia Party	4. Brent Robertson Australian Greens	5. Livingston Chettipally Liberal Party

6. Hon Ed Husic Australian Labor Party

Candidate websites:

Livingston Chettipally
Hon Ed Husic
Brent Robertson

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Division of Chifley

Chifley was created in 1969, in Sydney's fast-growing and heavily working-class western suburbs, based on Blacktown. Its character has not changed much since its creation: it has one of the lowest proportion of people in professional and managerial occupations of any electorate in Australia, nearly half (47.3%) of its population live in non English speaking households, and it has the highest proportion (4%) of Indigenous people of any urban electorate.* All these factors make Chifley a very safe seat for the Labor Party.

As with several other safe Labor seats in western Sydney, Chifley has been held mainly by backbenchers distinguished more for loyalty than for ability. Roger Price won the seat in 1984, and was a parliamentary secretary in the Hawke and Keating governments, and later Labor Chief Whip. He retired in 2010.

Ed Husic, Labor MP for Chifley since 2010, was national president of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union before his election. He was the Labor candidate for Greenway in 2014, and was subjected to an anonymous smear campaign based on the fact that he is a Muslim - he is the son of Bosnian immigrants, and was the first Muslim to be a member of the Australian Parliament. He was a parliamentary secretary in the last months of the Rudd-Gillard Government. He is now Shadow Minister for Employment Services, Workforce Participation and Future of Work and for the Digital Economy.

The Liberal candidate is Livingston Chettipally, formerly Community Development Officer at Auburn City Council. The Greens candidate is Brent Robertson, a fulltime carer.

* Blacktown was originally called Blacks Town and was the site of an internment camp and school for Sydney-area Aboriginal people.

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Demographics:

Median weekly household income: $1,477 (Australia $1,438)
People over 65: 10.9% (Australia 15.8%)
Indigenous: 4.0% (Australia 2.8%)
Australian born: 52.5% (Australia 66.7%)
Ancestry: Filipino 9.4%, Indian 7.2%
Non-English-speaking households: 47.3% (Australia 22.2%)
Catholics 30.3% (Australia 22.6%)
Muslim 8.3%
No religion 14.4% (Australia 29.6%)
University graduates: 17.8% (Australia 22.0%)
Professional and managerial employment: 22.3% (Australia 35.2%)
Employed in manufacturing and construction: 24.2% (Australia 22.9%)
Paying a mortgage: 37.5% (Australia 34.5%)
Renting: 37.0% (Australia 30.9%)
Traditional families: 45.7% (Australia 32.8%)

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Members:

John Armitage (ALP) 1969-83
Russell Gorman (ALP) 1983-84
Hon Roger Price (ALP) 1984-2010
Hon Ed Husic (ALP) 2010-

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Boundaries following 2016 redistribution:

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