Division of Warringah

The Division of Warringah is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Warringah Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Warringah in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1922
MP	Zali Steggall
Party	Independent
Namesake	Warringah
Electors	105,077 (2019)
Area	68 km^2 (26.3 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner Metropolitan

History

The division is named after the Warringah area of Sydney, which itself is named by an Aboriginal Australian word which translates into English as "rain", "waves" or "sea". The Division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 13 September 1922, and was first contested at the 1922 federal election.[1] The word "Warrin ga" was recorded as the local name for Middle Harbour in 1832.[2]

Centred on Mosman and the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, it covers most of the land between Middle Harbour and the Tasman Sea. It extends from Port Jackson in the south to the suburb of Dee Why in the north. It includes the suburbs of Allambie, Allambie Heights, Balgowlah, Balgowlah Heights, Balmoral, Beauty Point, Brookvale, Clifton Gardens, Clontarf, Cremorne Point, Curl Curl, Fairlight, Freshwater, Killarney Heights, Kurraba Point, Manly, Manly Vale, Mosman, North Balgowlah, North Curl Curl, North Head, North Manly, Queenscliff, Seaforth, and Wingala; as well as parts of Beacon Hill, Cremorne, Dee Why, Forestville, Frenchs Forest, Narraweena, and Neutral Bay.[1]

The Northern Beaches have long been a stronghold for the Liberal Party of Australia. The Liberals and their predecessors held the seat without interruption from its creation in 1922 until the 2019 federal election when Zali Steggall won the seat as an independent.[3] Even by northern Sydney standards, Warringah has been especially unfriendly territory for Labor. For example, even in its 1943 landslide, Labor was only able to garner 39 percent of the two-party vote in Warringah; Labor has never won more than 40.5 percent of the two-party vote in any election for this seat.

Before 2019, the area covered by Warringah had been held by a conservative party without interruption since Federation; most of its territory had been part of North Sydney from 1901 to 1922.

The seat's most notable member was Tony Abbott, who won the seat at a 1994 by-election and served as Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He retained Warringah until being defeated by Steggall in 2019. That election also saw Warringah become a notional marginal seat in a "traditional" two-party contest against Labor for the first time; Abbott would have held the seat on 52.1 percent against Labor, down from 61 percent in 2016.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Sir Granville Ryrie (1865–1937)	Nationalist	16 December 1922 – 13 April 1927	Previously held the Division of North Sydney. Resigned in order to become the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
		(Sir) Archdale Parkhill (1878–1947)	Nationalist	21 May 1927 – 7 May 1931	Served as minister under Lyons. Lost seat
			United Australia	7 May 1931 – 23 October 1937
		Percy Spender (1897–1985)	Independent United Australia	23 October 1937 – 20 October 1938	Served as minister under Menzies and Fadden. Retired
			United Australia	20 October 1938 – 23 February 1944
			Independent	23 February 1944 – 13 September 1945
			Liberal	13 September 1945 – 28 April 1951
		Francis Bland (1882–1967)	Liberal	28 April 1951 – 2 November 1961	Retired
		John Cockle (1908–1966)	Liberal	9 December 1961 – 3 August 1966	Died in office
		Edward St John (1916–1994)	Liberal	26 November 1966 – 28 March 1969	Lost seat
			Independent	28 March 1969 – 25 October 1969
		Michael MacKellar (1938–2015)	Liberal	25 October 1969 – 18 February 1994	Served as minister under Fraser. Resigned in order to retire from politics
		Tony Abbott (1957–)	Liberal	26 March 1994 – 18 May 2019	Served as minister under Howard. Served as Opposition Leader from 2009 to 2013. Served as Prime Minister from 2013 to 2015. Lost seat
		Zali Steggall (1974–)	Independent	18 May 2019 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Warringah

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Warringah[edit]

2019 Australian federal election: Warringah[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Zali Steggall	40,034	43.46	+43.46
	Liberal	Tony Abbott	35,935	39.01	−12.64
	Labor	Dean Harris	6,091	6.61	−8.18
	Greens	Kristyn Glanville	5,647	6.13	−6.06
	Animal Justice	Heather Barnes	1,291	1.40	+1.40
	Independent	Susan Moylan	1,111	1.21	+1.21
	Sustainable Australia	Emanuele Paletto	678	0.74	+0.74
	United Australia	Suellen Wrightson	625	0.68	+0.68
	Christian Democrats	Jason Blaiklock	461	0.50	−0.70
	Conservative National	Brian Clare	250	0.27	+0.27
Total formal votes			92,123	94.95	+1.03
Informal votes			4,897	5.05	−1.03
Turnout			97,020	92.40	+2.50
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Tony Abbott	48,011	52.12	−8.97
	Labor	Dean Harris	44,112	47.88	+8.97
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Zali Steggall	52,728	57.24	+57.24
	Liberal	Tony Abbott	39,395	42.76	−18.79
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

References

1. "Profile of the electoral division of Warringah (NSW)". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
2. Larmer, James. "'Larmer's Vocabulary of Native Names. 1853' by James Larmer, 1832-1853 | Indigenous Languages". indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au. p. 31. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
3. Green, Antony. "Warringah (Key Seat)". Australia votes. ABC News. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
4. Warringah, NSW, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.