Hawkesbury – NSW 2015

LIB 28.4%

Incumbent MP
Ray Williams, since 2007.

Geography
North-western fringe of Sydney. The seat covers the entirety of the Hawkesbury local government area and northern parts of the Hornsby and Hills council areas. The seat covers Richmond, Windsor, Kurrajong and surrounding areas.

Map of Hawkesbury's 2011 and 2015 boundaries. 2011 boundaries marked as red lines, 2015 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of Hawkesbury’s 2011 and 2015 boundaries. 2011 boundaries marked as red lines, 2015 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Redistribution
Prior to the redistribution, the seat of Hawkesbury did not cover Richmond or Windsor, and the seat’s population was centred on the Hills shire. Hawkesbury lost most of its population in the Hills to Castle Hill, gaining Kurrajong and Richmond from Londonderry and Windsor from Riverstone. These changes cut the Liberal margin from 34.7% to 28.4%.

History
Hawkesbury has existed since 1859. Except for the 1940s, when it was held by Labor, the seat has been won by the Liberal Party and its predecessors since 1927.

The original district of Hawkesbury elected two MLAs from 1859 to 1880. It became a single-member district in 1880. As parties developed in the late 19th century, Hawkesbury was dominated by Free Traders. It was then held by the early Liberal Reform party, but was won by an independent in 1917.

In 1920, it was merged with other seats to form the three-member Cumberland district.

Hawkesbury was restored in 1927, and won by Nationalist Bruce Walker, who had been one of the Members for Cumberland since 1920.

Walker retired at the 1932 election, and was succeeded by his son Ronald Walker, who won as a United Australia Party candidate.

The younger Walker retired in 1941, and the seat was won by the ALP’s Frank Finnan by only 130 votes.

Finnan became a minister in 1947. In 1950, a redistribution made Hawkesbury solidly conservative, and Finnan won the new inner-city seat of Darlinghurst. He served as a minister until 1953, when Darlinghurst was abolished, and he retired.

Bernie Deane won Hawkesbury for the Liberal Party in 1950. He held the seat throughout the 1950s and 1960s as a backbencher. He retired in late 1972.

The by-election was held in early 1973, and was won by Liberal candidate Kevin Rozzoli. He held the seat throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1995.

In 2003, Rozzoli intended to run for another term, but he was challenged for preselection by former Hornsby Shire president Steven Pringle. Pringle’s preselection was controversial, creating deep animosity in the local Liberal Party.

In 2006, Pringle faced his own preselection challenge from Baulkham Hills Shire councillor Ray Williams. Williams defeated Pringle in late 2006. Pringle resigned from the Liberal Party, and contested Hawkesbury as an independent. Williams won the seat with 56% of the two-candidate-preferred vote.

Ray Williams was easily re-elected in 2011.

Candidates
Sitting Hawkesbury MP Ray Williams challenged Castle Hill MP Dominic Perrottet for Castle Hill preselection. Ray Williams will be running in Castle Hill, and Perrottet will be running in Hawkesbury.

Assessment
Hawkesbury is a very safe Liberal seat.

2011 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Ray Williams Liberal 35,793 75.4 +29.7 66.4
Peter Wicks Labor 5,276 11.1 -4.9 15.5
Leigh Williams Greens 4,705 9.9 +3.4 10.3
Muriel Sultana Christian Democrats 1,726 3.6 +3.6 3.8
Others 4.1

2011 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Ray Williams Liberal 37,401 84.7 +15.4 78.4
Peter Wicks Labor 6,755 15.3 -15.4 21.6
Polling places in Hawkesbury at the 2011 NSW state election. East in yellow, North in blue, Richmond in red, Windsor in green. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Hawkesbury at the 2011 NSW state election. East in yellow, North in blue, Richmond in red, Windsor in green. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Hawkesbury have been split into four parts. Polling places in the Hills shire have been grouped as “East”, and three booths in the north of the Hawkesbury region have been grouped as “North”.

The remaining booths in the heart of the seat have been split between those around Richmond and those around Windsor.

The Liberal Party won a large majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 75.8% in Richmond to 86.9% in the east.

The Greens came third in the electorate, with a vote ranging from 8.8% in Windsor to 19% in the north.

Voter group GRN % LIB 2PP % Total % of votes
Windsor 8.8 78.9 14,991 34.3
Richmond 11.4 75.8 12,652 28.9
East 9.8 86.9 3,575 8.2
North 19.0 76.4 675 1.5
Other votes 10.5 77.7 11,823 27.0
Two-party-preferred votes in Hawkesbury at the 2011 NSW state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Hawkesbury at the 2011 NSW state election.
Greens primary votes in Hawkesbury at the 2011 NSW state election.
Greens primary votes in Hawkesbury at the 2011 NSW state election.

7 COMMENTS

  2. I was surprised to learn Hawkesbury previously covered neither Richmond nor Windsor. I’d say the new configuration much better represents community of interest concerns.

    Since the new areas come from either Londonderry or Riverstone, Perrottet’s new seat has nothing in common with his old seat of Castle Hill.

  3. Perrottet is a dud candidate. Currently represents Castle Hill yet lives in Beecroft in the Epping Electorate. Perrottet isn’t making much effort in campaigning in the seat, just hanging around shopping centres for an hour then leaving. Young Liberals are also letter boxing (I’ve heard local Liberal Branchies are not willing to campaign for him after the bitter Preselction in the seat). Barry Calvert (ALP) is campaigning hard. Lots of Door Knocking, Street Stalls, High Vis, Wobble Boarding, Letter Boxing, Phoning and Putting mobile billboards around the electorate. For a safe Liberal seat, Labor is campaigning like its a marginal on a shoestring budget. I think it will be a Liberal retain but a large swing against the Liberal Party. There is a lot of local, grassroots issues that locals are taking note of. Will be an interesting seat to watch with a strong independent.

  4. Interesting that LAB is actually campaigning given the difficulties of that seat. It’s certainly had some “interesting” members in recent times. Rozzoli loved the full regalia of Speakerdom …. but never bothered actually having an electorate office in his electorate ! Pringle got “shafted” by local branches spearheaded by the current Mayor of Hornsby who coveted the position for himself but got outflanked himself. Raymond Williams sprayed himself all over the Riverstone electorate when campaigning against John Aquilina in 2003 ……. and saw the ALP 2PP margin extend a further 3% !

  6. I think Perrottet is a quality candidate, but shunting him into Hawkesbury does him or the electorate no favours at all. At least he’s better than that nong Ray Williams. That’s a good starting point.

  7. A lot of the young Liberals seen to be keen on building their own careers. The only reason Dom is in the Hawkesbury is because it is a safe seat.

Comments are closed.