ALP 8.3%
Incumbent MP
Stephen Jones, since 2016. Previously member for Throsby 2010-2016.
Geography
Southern Illawarra and Southern Highlands of NSW. Whitlam covers the entirety of the Shellharbour council area along with southern parts of the City of Wollongong. These suburbs mostly surround Lake Illawarra, including Shellharbour, Dapto and Albion Park. It also covers the entire Wingecarribee council area in the Southern Highlands, including Bowral, Moss Vale and Mittagong.
Redistribution
Whitlam expanded to the west, taking in the remainder of the Southern Highlands including Exeter and Bundanoon. Whitlam lost the southern Wollongong suburbs of Berkeley, Cringila, Korongulla and Windang. These changes cut the Labor margin from 10.1% to 8.3%.
History
The seat of Whitlam was known as Throsby until 2016. Throsby was first created for the 1984 election, and has always been held by the ALP. It has always been won by the ALP by a large margin.
The seat was first won in 1984 by Colin Hollis. Hollis had previously been elected in Macarthur for one term in 1983. Hollis retired in 2001, and was succeeded by former ACTU President Jennie George. George held the seat from 2001 to 2010.
In 2010, Stephen Jones won the seat for the ALP upon Jennie George’s retirement. Jones has been re-elected four times.
Candidates
Sitting Labor MP Stephen Jones is not running for re-election.
- Carol Berry (Labor)
- Ben Britton (Liberal)
- Sharon Cousins (One Nation)
- Jamie Dixon (Greens)
- Cheryl Hinton (Citizens Party)
- Raymond Khoury (Libertarian)
- Paddy Moylan (Independent)
Assessment
Whitlam is a reasonably safe Labor seat, alhough the redistribution slightly weakened Labor’s position.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Stephen Jones | Labor | 49,218 | 45.0 | -3.8 | 42.4 |
| Mike Cains | Liberal | 30,849 | 28.2 | +2.8 | 29.8 |
| Jamie Dixon | Greens | 11,779 | 10.8 | +1.6 | 10.4 |
| Colin Hughes | One Nation | 7,543 | 6.9 | +6.9 | 6.9 |
| Allan Wode | United Australia | 5,886 | 5.4 | -3.5 | 5.2 |
| Michael Wheeler | Liberal Democrats | 4,062 | 3.7 | +3.7 | 3.5 |
| Independent | 1.5 | ||||
| Others | 0.3 | ||||
| Informal | 5,637 | 4.9 | -2.4 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Stephen Jones | Labor | 65,683 | 60.1 | -0.8 | 58.3 |
| Mike Cains | Liberal | 43,654 | 39.9 | +0.8 | 41.7 |
Booths have been divided into three areas, along local government boundaries.
The ALP won large majorities of the two-party-preferred vote in Shellharbour (63.8%) and Wollongong (66.6%). The Liberal Party won 50.2% in Southern Highlands.
The Greens primary vote ranged from 11.1% in the Southern Highlands to 12.8% in Wollongong.
| Voter group | GRN prim | ALP 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| Shellharbour | 11.7 | 63.8 | 21,030 | 19.5 |
| Southern Highlands | 11.1 | 49.8 | 15,870 | 14.7 |
| Wollongong | 12.8 | 66.6 | 8,967 | 8.3 |
| Pre-poll | 9.1 | 57.5 | 50,720 | 47.0 |
| Other votes | 11.2 | 57.3 | 11,388 | 10.5 |
Election results in Whitlam at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.
Probably why the Nat dropped put. I’m backing the ind here both lib and lab candidates are lame ducks and would lose in 2028 to a decent candidate from the opposing party.
If the ind makes the cut he will win on one of the majors preferences
Looks like the liberal candidate is trying to confirm beyond all doubt he is not a good choice.
Sportsbet has the ind at 26.00 . Ind gets ahead of libs it’s an ind win here.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/04/liberal-candidate-says-women-should-not-serve-in-adf-combat-roles-amid-range-of-controversial-views
Sounds like a good bet
Is there a market for “first major party candidate to get disendorsed mid-campaign”?
Saying women should not serve in combat is not controversial it was add policy for ages
@Darth Vader just because it was policy for ages previously doesn’t mean it’s relevant today. It’s very poor taste and Britton leaning into the culture wars reeks of the far right stink, but what do you expect from someone who was previously a UAP party member and candidate?
His views might resonate in places like Maranoa, Kennedy or Groom, but not Whitlam where it is still pretty moderate/progressive at its base of Dapto/Shellharbour. I’m thinking that Labor has better chances of retaining this now if these comments get more publicity which would be a bad look for Britton and the Liberals.
I don’t know if I’d call Dapto Shellharbour moderate/progressive with the near 80% No vote.
But still think the comments are wrong were uncalled for.
Agree Tommo, the seat in its current form is more of a swing type district. As a result, any shift away from an economic/cost of living message will play poorly here and will harm the Liberals chances of winning.