LIB 25.0% vs GRN
Incumbent MP
Jonathan O’Dea, since 2007.
Geography
Northern Sydney. Davidson covers the eastern half of the Ku-ring-gai council area and a small part of the Northern Beaches council area, including the suburbs of Roseville, Gordon, North Turramurra, Lindfield, Killara, Davidson and parts of Belrose and St Ives.
Redistribution
Davidson shifted west, taking in North Turramurra, Gordon and Killara from Ku-ring-gai, and losing Castle Cove to Willoughby and the remainder of Forestville and Oxford Falls and part of Belrose to Wakehurst.
History
The district of Davidson has existed since 1971, and it has always been won by the Liberal Party.
Davidson was first won in 1971 by Liberal MP Dick Healey. He had been Member for Wakehurst since 1962. He served as a minister in the Coalition government from 1973 to 1976. He held his seat until 1981, when he lost Liberal preselection to Terry Metherell.
Terry Metherell quickly rose to the Coalition frontbench in Opposition, and became Minister for Education when Greiner gained power in 1988. His educational reforms were unpopular, and he was forced to resign from the ministry after accusations of tax avoidance.
The Coalition lost its majority at the 1991 election, and Metherell’s prospects of returning to the ministry were squashed. He resigned from the Liberal Party in late 1991.
When the Liberal Party lost The Entrance by-election, they needed Metherell’s vote to maintain power.
In 1992, Metherell was appointed to a newly-created position with the Environment Protection Agency, vacating his seat. The following by-election was won by Liberal candidate Andrew Humpherson.
Following the by-election, the Legislative Assembly referred the issue to the newly-created Independent Commission Against Corruption, which found that the Premier, Nick Greiner, and his Minister for the Environment had both acted corruptly, which led to their resignations.
Humpherson held Davidson comfortably throughout the 1990s, and in 2000 was appointed to the opposition frontbench.
In the lead-up to the 2007 election, Humpherson was challenged for preselection by Jonathan O’Dea, who won a close-run preselection battle, and went on to win the 2007 election. He has been re-elected three times.
Candidates
Sitting Liberal MP Jonathan O’Dea is not running for re-election.
Assessment
Davidson is a very safe Liberal seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Jonathan O’Dea | Liberal | 32,023 | 65.1 | -4.5 | 64.4 |
| Joe Von Bornemann | Labor | 6,645 | 13.5 | +0.9 | 14.2 |
| Felicity Davis | Greens | 6,652 | 13.5 | +0.1 | 13.5 |
| Jacob Shteyman | Keep Sydney Open | 1,984 | 4.0 | +4.0 | 3.8 |
| Stephen Molloy | Sustainable Australia | 1,865 | 3.8 | +3.8 | 3.7 |
| Others | 0.4 | ||||
| Informal | 1,021 | 2.0 |
2019 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Jonathan O’Dea | Liberal | 33,440 | 75.2 | -3.6 | 75.0 |
| Felicity Davis | Greens | 11,004 | 24.8 | +3.6 | 25.0 |
2019 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Jonathan O’Dea | Liberal | 33,750 | 75.5 | -3.5 | 74.7 |
| Joe Von Bornemann | Labor | 10,967 | 24.5 | +3.5 | 25.3 |
Booths in Davidson have been split into three parts. Polling places in the Northern Beaches council area have been grouped as “east”, while those in Ku-ring-gai have been split into “south” and “west”.
The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote (against the Greens) in all three areas, ranging from 73.1% in the south to 76.5% in the east.
Labor came third (second following the redistribution), with a primary vote ranging from 13.3% in the east to 14.1% in the south.
| Voter group | ALP prim % | LIB 2CP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| West | 13.8 | 76.0 | 15,852 | 29.7 |
| South | 14.1 | 73.1 | 14,312 | 26.8 |
| East | 13.3 | 76.5 | 8,285 | 15.5 |
| Other votes | 15.5 | 73.6 | 10,001 | 18.7 |
| Pre-poll | 14.8 | 77.5 | 4,922 | 9.2 |
Election results in Davidson at the 2019 NSW state election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Liberal vs Greens), two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal Party, Labor and the Greens.
I argued against the name “St Ives” largely because St Ives is the only suburb in the Ku-ring-gai area with the distinction of not having a train station, and because there are too many electors who would never travel to or through St Ives. I suggested the possibility of the name “Gordon”, but defended the name “Davidson” under the precedent of retaining existing names.
Some examples of districts that have had their names retained despite boundaries shifting away from focusing on their namesake include Londonderry (not “St Marys”), Epping (not “Carlingford”), and Granville (not “Merrylands”). That being said, I did find it a little odd that the panel chose to rename Ku-ring-gai, Seven Hills, and Mulgoa.
This is no criticism of Rory Amon or Matt Cross but it would have been good if Natalie Ward had won preselection for an Upper North Shore or Northern Beaches seat. These two areas are Liberal heartland but at the same time have never had a female state level MP. This is one way of Teal-proofing the heartland.
@Nimalan she might run in Hornsby.
I think Sydney has been teal-proofed. There aren’t climate wars in NSW.
@ Nether Portal
Agree no climate wars in NSW and i really hope it remains that way. Gender issues also played a role in the Teals winning seats in addition to climate and integrity.
This seat seems to have a strange boundary with the eastern part is almost cut off from the rest of the seat due to the Garigal National Park.