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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Australian federal election, 2022
Division of Bennelong, New South Wales
Named for: Bennelong (died 1813), an Eora Indigenous man befriended
by Governor Phillip
Northern Sydney: Eastwood, Epping, Ermington, Gladesville, Ryde
State seats: All of
Ryde, parts of
Epping,
Lane Cove and
Parramatta
Local government areas: Parts of
Parramatta and
Ryde
Borders with:
Berowra,
Bradfield,
North Sydney and
Parramatta
Enrolment at 2019 election: 108,815
Enrolment at 2022 election: 115,030 (+05.7)
1999 republic referendum: Yes 54.6
2018 same-sex marriage survey: No 50.2
Sitting member: John Alexander OAM (Liberal):
Elected 2010, 2013, 2016. Resigned 2017. Elected 2017 by-election, 2019. Retiring 2022
2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 1.4%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 3.1%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 7.8%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 9.7%
2017 by-election Liberal majority over Labor: 4.9%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 6.9%
Liberal two-party vote 1983-2019
Status: Marginal Liberal
Best Liberal booths, two-party vote: Putney (65.9), Putney West (65,1), Ryde (62.9), Ryde South (60.4),
Eastwood PPVC (59.9)
Best Labor booths, two-party vote: Macquarie Park (57.3), Ryde Heights (51.8), Meadowbank (51.4),
Marsfield North (50.4), Top Ryde (49.3)
2019 results
Statistics and history
Candidates:
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1. John August
Fusion Party |
2. Tony Adams
Australian Greens |
3. Dougal Cameron
Liberal Democrats |
4. Simon Kennedy
Liberal Party |
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5. Rhys Collyer
United Australia Party |
6. Victor Waterson
Pauline Hanson's One Nation |
7. Jerome Laxale
Australian Labor Party |
8. Kyinzom Dhongdue
Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance |
Candidate websites:
Tony Adams
John August
Dougal Cameron
Kyinzom Dhongdue
Simon Kennedy
Jerome Laxale
Division of Bennelong
Bennelong was created in 1949, occupying a block of affluent middle-class suburbia on Sydney's North Shore. It has the
unusual combination of high median family incomes and a high proportion of people born in non English
speaking countries: it now has the highest proportion of such people of any Coalition-held seat. Many of these migrants
are people from Asian countries, particularly China, who are in professional occupations. The 2016 census showed 21% of
Bennelong residents claiming Chinese ancestry, the highest of any seat. (Not all of these will be citizens.)
For its first 50 years Bennelong was a usually reliable seat for the Liberal Party, having only two members in that time:
Sir John Cramer from 1949 to 1974 and
John Howard from 1974 to 2007. Howard was Treasurer in the Fraser Government, Leader
of the Liberal Party from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1995 to 2007, and Prime Minister from 1996 to 2007.
From the 1970s, however, successive redistributions shifted Bennelong westwards, losing prime Liberal territory in
Lane Cove and Hunters Hill and gaining marginal or Labor-voting areas further west. Demographic change also made suburbs
like Ryde and Gladesville less reliably Liberal. Bennelong was unusual among upper-income urban seats in voting No in the 2018 same-sex marriage survey. This was
attributed to the social conservatism of Chinese and other Asian voters.
The defeat of Howard's government in 2007, plus the changes in Bennelong, caused Howard's shock defeat in his own seat at
the 2007 election: he was the first Prime Mimister since 1929 to lose his seat. Labor's
Maxine McKew held the seat for
only one term, before it returned the Liberals in 2010.
John Alexander, Liberal MP for Bennelong since 2010, was a professional tennis player and sports commentator before
entering politics. Although he was something of a Liberal hero for regaining Bennelong, he was not been promoted. In
2017 Alexander resigned when it became clear that he had not
successfully renounced his possible claim to British citizenship. He was comfortably re-elected at the December 2017
by-election, defeating former NSW Premier (now Senator)
Kristina Keneally. In November 2021 he announced that he would
not stand again. The new Liberal candidate, chosen after a long delay due to factional disputes, is Simon Kennedy, an
adviser and consultant. The Labor candidate is Jerome Laxale, the Mayor of Ryde. The Greens candidate is Tony Adams,
a financial analyst.
Demographics:
Median weekly household income: $1,817 (Australia $1,438)
People over 65: 14.3% (Australia 15.8%)
Australian born: 48.3% (Australia 66.7%)
Ancestry: Chinese 21.0%
Non-English-speaking households: 51.8% (Australia 22.2%)
Catholics 23.3% (Australia 22.6%)
No religion 30.9% (Australia 29.6%)
University graduates: 39.8% (Australia 22.0%)
Professional and managerial employment: 48.1% (Australia 35.2%)
Employed in manufacturing and construction: 15.3% (Australia 22.9%)
Paying a mortgage: 30.0% (Australia 34.5%)
Renting: 36.1% (Australia 30.9%)
Traditional families: 39.3% (Australia 32.8%)
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