Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2022
Division of Hughes, New South Wales

Named for: Rt Hon Billy Hughes (1862-1952), NSW MP 1894-1901, federal MP 1901-52 (longest-serving MP), Prime Minister 1915-23


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Southern Sydney: Heathcote, Holsworthy, Menai, Sutherland, Woronora
State seats: Parts of Cronulla, Heathcote, Holsworthy and Miranda
Local government areas: Parts of Liverpool and Sutherland
Borders with: Banks, Cook, Cunningham, Fowler, Macarthur and Werriwa
Enrolment at 2019 election: 106,204
Enrolment at 2022 election: 107,364 (+01.1)
1999 republic referendum: No 50.8
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 58.4


Sitting member: Craig Kelly (United Australia): Elected 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019

2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 2.2%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 5.2%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 10.7%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 9.3%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 9.8%

Liberal two-party vote 1983-2019

Status: Fairly safe Liberal

Best Liberal booths, two-party vote: Barden Ridge (72.2), Illawong North (69.5), Illawong (69.1), Bangor (68.9), Alfords Point (68.6)
Best Labor booths, two-party vote: Bundeena (60.4), Sutherland East (49.9), Jannnali East (49.8), Sutherland (49.7), Heathcote East (48.2)


  • 2019 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Candidates in ballot-paper order:

    1. Jenny Ware
    Liberal Party
    2. Pete Thompson
    Australian Greens
    3. Georgia Steele
    Independent
    4. Craig Kelly
    United Australia Party
    5. Narelle Seymour
    Pauline Hanson's One Nation
    6. Linda Seymour
    Voices of Hughes
    7. Riley Cambpell
    Australian Labor Party

    Candidate websites:

    Riley Cambpell
    Craig Kelly
    Linda Seymour
    Georgia Steele
    Peter Thompson

    Division of Hughes

    Hughes was created in 1955, as a seat based on the Sutherland Shire and the mining communities on the coast between Sydney and Woollongong. It also usually included some Woollongong suburbs. On these boundaries it was a fairly safe Labor seat, although it was lost to the Liberals in 1966 (when all of the present seat of Cook was in the seat). The 1984 redistribution, however, moved the seat north, making it an entirely Sutherland-based seat and politically marginal. This put Hughes in the top 10% of electorates for median family income. It also has one of the highest proportions of families with dependent children and dwellings being purchased of any electorate: it is thus a high-income mortgage belt seat, full of young families with high incomes but high mortgages.

    Hughes was held by two Labor ministers, Les Johnson in the Whitlam Government and Robert Tickner in the Keating Government, but the Liberals won it in John Howard's sweep of the Sydney marginals in 1996, and have held it ever since, despite a close call in 2007. Danna Vale, who won Hughes in 1996, was a Howard favourite and had a brief and unhappy ministerial career before retiring in 2010.

    Craig Kelly, MP for Hughes since 2010, was an export manager before his election. Under Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister he became a prominent backbench dissident, supporting former PM Tony Abbott's positions on climate and energy policy. In 2019 it was reported that Kelly was likely to lose his Liberal nomination, but he was saved by an intervention from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who insisted that all sitting members in NSW be re-endorsed. Kelly's comments on both cliamte and the COVID pandemic became more extreme, and Morrison indicated that he would not intervene to save Kelly again. In February 2021 he resigned from the Liberal Party. In August he announced that he was joining Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and would contest Hughes as a UAP candidate. The Liberal candidate, chosen by Prime Minister Morrison after prolonged delays, is Jenny Ware, Director of Legal Services for Georges River Council. The first Labor candidate, Peter Tsambalas, withdrew in April due to doubts about his citizenship status. The new Labor candidate is Riley Cambpell. The Greens candidate is Peter Thompson, whose occupation is not stated. The "We Are Hughes" campaign is running Linda Seymour as an independent candidate, while the "Hughes Deserves Better" group is running Georgia Steele.


    Demographics:

    Median weekly household income: $2,088 (Australia $1,438)
    People over 65: 14.4% (Australia 15.8%)
    Australian born: 76.4% (Australia 66.7%)
    Non-English-speaking households: 20.5% (Australia 22.2%)
    Catholics 29.2% (Australia 22.6%)
    No religion 22.9% (Australia 29.6%)
    University graduates: 23.7% (Australia 22.0%)
    Professional and managerial employment: 37.7% (Australia 35.2%)
    Employed in manufacturing and construction: 23.5% (Australia 22.9%)
    Paying a mortgage: 44.6% (Australia 34.5%)
    Renting: 17.6% (Australia 30.9%)
    Traditional families: 47.0% (Australia 32.8%)



    Gallery of Members for Hughes



    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



    See full-size map of this Division



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