Wollondilly – NSW 2023

LIB 6.0% vs IND

Incumbent MP
Nathaniel Smith, since 2019.

• Geography
• Redistribution
• History
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• 2019 results
• Booth breakdown
• Results maps

Geography
Wollondilly covers most of Wollondilly Shire, as well as northern parts of the Southern Highlands. Wollondilly particularly covers Bargo, Bowral, Douglas Park, Hill Top, Mittagong, Nattai, Picton, Wilton and Yerrinbool.

Redistribution
Wollondilly lost Appin to Campbelltown. This change increased the Liberal margin from 5.5% to 6.0% against the independent, and increased the margin against Labor from 13.8% to 14.2%.

History
The current electoral district was only created for the most recent election in 2007. A previous electoral district with the name of Wollondilly existed from 1904 to 1981.

The seat existed from 1904 to 1981 covering areas between Campbelltown and Bowral, varying at each redistribution. From 1920 to 1925 the district expanded to be a three-member district elected proportionally. This district, while named Wollondilly, it stretched to the coast, covering Wollongong and surrounding areas.

From 1904 to 1978, the single-member district of Wollondilly was always won by the main conservative party, eventually becoming the Liberal Party.

The seat was won in 1957 by the Liberal Party’s Tom Lewis. He became a minister when the Coalition won power in 1965 led by Robert Askin. Lewis became Premier in early 1975 following Askin’s retirement. He only lasted a year, and was replaced in January 1976 by Eric Willis. The Liberals lost power at the 1976 election, and Lewis retired in 1978.

Wollondilly was gained by the ALP’s Bill Knott in 1978. In 1981, Wollondilly was abolished, with much of the seat’s territory forming part of the new seat of Camden. Knott moved to the new seat of Kiama, and held it until his retirement in 1986.

The seat of Wollondilly was restored as part of the redistribution before the 2007 election as a marginal Labor seat with a 4.6% margin, out of pieces of Camden, a marginal Labor seat, and Southern Highlands, a safer Liberal seat.

The seat was won in 2007 by ALP candidate Phil Costa. Costa was the Mayor of Wollondilly Shire, who had been elected to council as an independent with no links to either major party. He originally threatened to stand as an independent if either party preselected a candidate from the Campbelltown part of the seat, but was persuaded to stand for the ALP. Following his preselection announcement Wollondilly Council passed a motion of no confidence, but he refused to resign, and won the seat with a swing of only 1.3% against the ALP.

In 2011, Costa lost to Liberal candidate Jai Rowell, a councillor in the City of Campbelltown. Rowell was re-elected in 2015, and retired in 2019.

Liberal candidate Nathaniel Smith won the seat in 2019.

Candidates

Assessment
Wollondilly was won by Labor as recently as 2007, and if there was a big swing it could come into play, but the redistribution prior to the 2015 election made this seat substantially more conservative. More plausibly, independent Judy Hannan could be a serious threat here.

2019 result

2019 two-candidate-preferred result

2019 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths in Wollondilly have been split into three parts. Polling places in Wollondilly Shire were split into “Central” and “North”, while those in Wingecarribee Shire were grouped as “South”. All those booths in the south were previously contained in the seat of Goulburn, while all of those in the centre and north were contained in Wollondilly.

The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 51.4% in the centre to 59.3% in the south.

Labor came third, with a primary vote ranging from 10.1% in the north to 16.9% in the south. One Nation came fourth, with a primary vote ranging from 8.6% in the south to 12.5% in the centre.

Election results in Wollondilly at the 2019 NSW state election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Liberal vs independent), two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal Party, independent candidate Judy Hannan, Labor and One Nation.

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