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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Wentworth, New South Wales
Named for: William Wentworth (1790-1872), explorer, newspaper publisher, agitator against transportation and for self-government, NSW MP 1843-54, 1861-62
Eastern Sydney: Bondi, Darlinghurst, Vaucluse, Waverley, Woollahra
Enrolment at 2019 election: 103,567
Enrolment at 2022 election: 103,716 (+00.1)
1999 republic referendum: Yes 60.2
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 80.8
2023 Voice referendum: Yes 62.6
2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 3.8%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 14.9%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 17.7%
2016 Liberal majority over Labor: 17.7%
2018 by-election Independent majority over Liberal 1.2%
2019 Liberal majority over Independent: 1.3%
2022 Independent majority over Liberal 4.2%
2025 notional Independent majority over Liberal 4.2%
Status: Marginal Independent
Liberal two-party vote 1983-2022
2022 results
Statistics and history
Announced candidates:
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Ro Knox
Liberal Party |
Allegra Spender
Independent |
Division of Wentworth
Wentworth has existed since Federation, and has always covered Sydney's eastern harborside suburbs, one of the wealthiest
areas in Australia. Before 1949 Wentworth extended as far south as Maroubra, and in 1943 Labor came quite close to winning
it, but after 1949, when it was cut back to the Harbouside eastern suburbs, it was one of the safest of Liberal seats.
Since 1984, however, successive redistributions have again extended Wentworth to the south, taking in Bondi and Waverley, making
the seat slightly less blue-ribbon Liberal. Despite this, the seat still has higher levels of median family income and of
people in professional occupations than almost any other seat.
Wentworth's fairly high proportion of people born in non English speaking countries largely reflects the European birthplaces
of many people in the electorate's large Jewish community. The very low proportion of families with dependent children and
of dwellings being purchased reflects the many affluent flat-dwelling singles in the seat, which has a large gay and
lesbian community at the western end.
Wentworth is a traditional "leadership seat" for the conservative parties. Members have included Liberal ministers Sir
Eric Harrison,
Leslie Bury and
Robert Ellicott, and Opposition Leader
Dr John Hewson.
Peter King won the seat in 2001,
but was bundled out in 2004 to make way for
Malcolm Turnbull, a millionaire banker and former leader of the Australian
Republican Movement.
Turnbull was Minister for the Environment and Water Resources in the Howard government. After the 2007 election defeat, he
contested the Liberal leadership, but was narrowly defeated by
Dr Brendan Nelson, and became Shadow Treasurer. In September 2008 he rolled the hapless Nelson and became Liberal leader. But in late 2009 he created a crisis in the Liberal Party by agreeing to support Labor's emissions trading
scheme legislation. The right wing of the party, led by
Tony Abbott, revolted, and in December 2009 Abbott replaced Turnbull
as leader.
After the 2013 election, Abbott appointed Turnbull Minister for Communications. By 2015 the Abbott government was
floundering, and in September Turnbull mounted a party-room challenge and became Prime Minister. He had an initial surge of
popularity, but the 2016 election saw a sharp swing against the government, which reduced Turnbull's government to a one-seat majority. This
opened him up to a campaign of sniping from Abbott and his supporters. In 2918 he sought to pre-empt them by calling on a party-room ballot,
but only narrowly defeated the conservative challenger, Home Affairs Minister
Peter Dutton. Dutton then resigned, followed by a string of his supporters. This led to a
demand for a second party meeting, at which Turnbull resigned, throwing his support behind the Treasurer,
Scott Morrison, who comfortably defeated Dutton.
Within a few days of leaving office, Turnbull resigned from Parliament. The subsequent by-election was won by independent
candidate
Dr Kerryn Phelps, a former president of the AMA, who thus became the first
person ever to defeat a Liberal candidate in Wentworth. But at the 2019 election, with Turnbull and subsequent controversies fading,
Phelps was narrowly defeated by
Devanand ("Dave") Sharma, the former Australian Ambassador to Israel. The
Morrison Government was not popular with upper-income voters, and in 2022 Sharma was defeated by a "Teal" independent: he subsequently became a Senator.
Allegra Spender, independent MP for Wentworth since 2022, is the daughter of fashion designer Carla Zampatti and former Liberal MP John Spender, and the granddaughter of Sir Percy Spender. At the 2025 election, the Liberals
will be very keen to regain this once ultra-safe seat. The Liberal candidate will be Ro Knox, a lawyer, businesswoman and management consultant.
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