Drummoyne – NSW 2011

ALP 7.6%

Incumbent MP
Angela D’Amore, since 2003. D’Amore is now an independent after recently being suspended from the ALP.

Geography
Inner Western Sydney. The seat of Drummoyne covers suburbs on the southern side of Sydney Harbour. Most of the seat lies in the City of Canada Bay, along with a small part of the City of Strathfield. Suburbs include Drummoyne, Five Dock, Russell Lea, Concord, Rhodes and parts of Strathfield and Homebush.

History
Drummoyne has existed as an electoral district since 1913, with the exception of three elections in the 1920s when proportional representation, and Drummoyne was part of the Ryde multi-member district. Traditionally Drummoyne was dominated by conservatives, but it has been held by the ALP continuously since 1962.

The original seat was won by the Liberal/Nationalist party continuously from 1913 until its abolition in 1920, and then again was won by the Nationalists when it was restored in 1927, when it was won by John Lee, who had previously been one of five MLAs for Botany since 1920.

The ALP won Drummoyne off Lee in 1930, although he won back the seat in 1932. The ALP’s Robert Greig won Drummoyne in 1941, 14 years after he had last served in the Legislative Assembly as one of the Members for Ryde from 1920 to 1927.

Greig was defeated by the Liberal Party’s Robert Dewley in 1947. He held the seat for two terms, losing in 1953 to the ALP’s Roy Jackson.

Jackson held the seat for one term, and lost in 1956 to the Liberal Party’s Walter Lawrence. He held the seat for two terms, losing in 1962. He was the last Liberal to win Drummoyne.

In 1962, Drummoyne was won by the ALP’s Reg Coady, who had previously held the seat of Leichhardt since 1954, but moved to Drummoyne upon the abolition of his first seat. He retired in 1973.

Coady was succeeded in 1973 by Michael Maher. He held the seat until his resignation in 1982, when he ran for the by-election in the federal seat of Lowe. He held Lowe until his defeat in 1987.

The 1982 Drummoyne by-election was won by John Murray. He served as a shadow minister when Labor was in opposition, and served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1995 until his retirement in 2003.

Drummoyne has been held since 2003 by Angela D’Amore. D’Amore was appointed a Parliamentary Secretary in March 2010, but her rise was cut short by an ICAC inquiry in late 2010. This inquiry looked into misuse of parliamentary allowances, and she was found to have engaged in corrupt conduct.

Following this decision, Premier Kristina Keneally removed her as a Parliamentary Secretary, and her membership of the Labor Party was suspended.

Candidates

Political situation
 Drummoyne’s 7.6% margin for the ALP is certainly vulnerable to the Liberal Party in the current climate. Once you consider the ICAC inquiry into the outgoing member, the Liberal Party are the strong favourite in this seat.

2007 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Angela D’Amore ALP 20,007 47.3 -0.1
Greg Long LIB 15,519 36.7 +1.4
Bernard Rooney GRN 3,995 9.4 +0.8
Michael Vescio IND 1,258 3.0 +3.0
Ozlem Huseyin UNI 694 1.6 +0.1
Edeltraud Guener AAFI 475 1.1 +0.2
Peter Stitt ORP 391 0.9 +0.9

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Angela D’Amore ALP 22,509 57.6 -1.1
Greg Long LIB 16,559 42.4 +1.1

Booth breakdown
Drummoyne’s boundaries almost match those of the City of Canada Bay, with the exception of one booth in Strathfield. Canada Bay is a recent creation, following the merger of Drummoyne and Concord councils in 2000. Booths have been broken into two areas, based on the former local government areas, with the Homebush North booth added to the neighbouring Concord area.

The ALP won a majority in both areas, winning almost 60% in Concord and just over 56% in Drummoyne.

Polling booths in Drummoyne at the 2007 state election. Drummoyne in blue, Concord in yellow.

 

Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of votes
Drummoyne 10.1 56.3 17,785 42.0
Concord 8.4 59.8 16,591 39.2
Other votes 10.0 56.6 7,963 18.8
Two-party-preferred votes in Drummoyne at the 2007 state election.
Greens primary votes in Drummoyne at the 2007 state election.

33 COMMENTS

  4. Once the type of lower middle-class Sydney seat that Labor would hold even in a bad year such as 1988 but the waterside locations have now become very pricey and Libs will win easily.

  6. Geoff, I’m not so sure about Drummoyne moving towards the Liberals. Many parts of the outer inner west (Strathfield, Burwood, Concord, Ashfield) have often elected Liberals in previous decades. This started to fade in the 1970s. The Concord area (the seat of Yaralla) was last held by the Liberals in 1976, but the Burwood/Strathfield seat was still Liberal-held until the 1999 election.

  9. Can someone comment on the fact that the Liberal candidate is the Mayor of Burwood, given that no part of the Burwood LGA is in the Drummoyne seat? Not having local knowledge, this seems a bit curious…

  10. GNav, The story I have been told is that Sidoti tried to get onto Local Council some years ago but was way down on the ticket and didn’t get in so he talked his way into Burwood – he is not a popularly elected Mayor and is serving a second term after Burwood Councillors reneged on an understanding to install Burwood’s first female Mayor (Christine Donayre) in the year of the Female (2010).

    He also failed in the 2004 Federal Election (Lowe) against Murphy – in the local paper he blamed the Greens for his failure.

  11. John Sidoti has been an fixture of the Five Dock community for a long time.The Sidoti family has operated a popular Function Centre in the area and walking down the main streets of Five Dock, Drummoyne and Concord it is almost impossible to not find John there talking to members of the local community and seeing how he can assist them. Being a local family man with small business and local government experience means that Sidoti would be a great asset to the seat of Drummoyne.

  12. @ GNav. As Joey D says, John Sidoti has a high profile in the southern part of the electorate. I recall him being involved in the Five Dock Chamber of Commerce 10-15 years ago… Since becoming mayor of Burwood, he has strategically used local media outlets to increase his profile all over the inner west.

    I would have tipped him for an easy win, but with Angela D’Amore gone and Angelo Tsirekas in the race, I’m now not so sure. Local ALP people always wanted Angelo, Angela was imposed on them by Iemma and Tripodi (she later isolated herself from both, which may explain her fate), and never popular. The Mayor of Canada Bay is well liked, but he’ll be battling uphill. This is a seat to watch, though…

    Greens vote may increase in Drummoyne (suburb), but will be relatively insignificant elsewhere, Alex Elliot will struggle to get his message (whatever it is) across. He was very cosy with the Libs during his anti-Iron Cove Bridge campaign.

  13. @Joey D….I live and work (Majors Bay Rd) in Concord and have never seen Sidoti….I doubt he can deliver anything of substance – kissing babies and shaking hands is one thing, actually having solutions to problems is another (though he might find community assets to sell like he is doing in Burwood; he’s pretty good at that).

    Actually come to think of it Tsirekas and Sidoti are not dissimilar…they both have an over inflated opinion of themselves and think everyone loves them.

  14. @ Reply

    That is great that you live and work on Majors Bay Rd, we must have crossed paths dozens of times! You have honestly never seen John Sidoti on Majors Bay Rd? That is funny because I was doing some shopping in Coles yesterday and as I came outside who did I bump into? Yep, you guessed it! John Sidoti! This wasn’t surprising though. I have been a Concord man for most of my life and I honestly have lost count of the amount of times I have seen him in the area. He is clearly more well known around Five Dock and Drummoyne as he lives around there but he certainly has been known to and helped people from all over the electorate.

    Reply, at the end of the day you have your views and that is fine. But as somebody who has spent the clear majority of my life living in Canada Bay it is simply incorrect to suggest that John is not an asset to the area.

    John Sidoti will definitely give his all for the people of the Drummoyne electorate. He was a hard worker when his family ran the function centre on Great North Rd in Five Dock and he has been a hard worker in his time as the Mayor of Burwood. John Sidoti will continue to show that hard work ethic if he is elected to represent the seat of Drummoyne which will be a nice change after countless years of neglect under Labor.

  15. Labor has made a late start in campaigning. Angelo Tsirekas’ variation on the “Keep Verity/Carmel” posters in neighbouring seats is “One of Us”, with even more minimal Labor branding than the other two. The posters are yellow, b/w photo, with a dark grey panel (small) with “Labor” reversed on a dark b/g. You do have to look hard.

    Since I’m involved in advertising and branding, I’m finding this all quite fascinating. It’s sort of like everything we were ever taught, but in reverse.

    NSW Labor’s 2011 local campaigns will be written up in textbooks, and studied for generations to come

  16. It seems like the ALP Brand is damanged goods. I have seen the advertising around here and if it wasn’t for a weird box in the bottom right hand corner of the picture, you wouldn’t even know that it is an ALP Banner.

    I actually believe that this seat will undergo a demographical change over the next 10 years. This will become more affluent and could well end up beomming a LIB vs Greens contest in the near future. A similar thing is happening in the federal seat of Bennellong and in the state seat of Balmain: The Parramatta River is seeing more developments on the shores and this will only be in reach for well-off families looking for a good geographical position somewhere near the city.

  17. Whilst Drummoyne is increasingly upper class and obviously there’ll be a massive uniform swing, Tsirekas is personally very popular and has the local branches fired up (having one of the least popular candidates replaced by one of the most popular will do that).

    Obviously it’s still likely to go to the Libs but I wouldn’t call it just yet.

  18. crazedmongoose – I would. ALP are no hope hear from the locals I talk to. Another case of not accepting Debnam last time.

  21. This is a LONG way from being Green vs Lib, Hawkeye. Greens were 9% (only 6% out west) in 2007. The Libs and the Greens are going after the same people, anglo and affluent. There is good reason why the Green vote is closest to the Balmain end of the electorate.

    But if you look at what the new money is doing in the area (they’re knocking down the fed bumgalows and building McMansions), these are not Green voters, and never will be.

  24. Judging by the pendulum and polls, this should be a certain Liberal gain. I’m only tipping the Liberals to gain Drummoyne in a toss-up.
    The retiring D’Amore was imposed on this electorate by Sussex Street, so her departure might be a help. Tsirekas, by contrast, has twice been popularly elected (not elected by councillors)as mayor of Canada Bay, arguably in the face of anti-Labor sentiment following the unpopular enforced merging of Drummoyne and Concord councils. If anyone could potentially withstand an anti-Labor backlash in the current climate, it’s Tsirekas. Meanwhile, Sidoti may have a profile as mayor of Burwood, but that council doesn’t lie within this electorate – he seems like an outsider. I tip Sidoti to win, but not with the upmost confidence.

  25. I diagree to the extent that Warren thinks this will be won by the Liberals. There are a ton of Sidoti posters around Concord and Rhodes and he has been around the railway stations very regularly (I used to drive through here on the way to work in Homebush). As for D’Amore, I think the voters won’t care who the ALP candidate is. The brand is that tarnished that they will take cricket bats to whoever is the ALP Candidate (if they ever had the guts to actually show the ALP logo on their candidate posters).

  26. The “cricket bat” theory is demeaning, Hawkeye. I know its just shorthand, a tiresome cliche (often upgraded to a “machine gun”), but I wonder if those using it actually ever think about what they are saying.

    They are positing a mean spirited bitterness in the hearts and minds of others, a sickness. Maybe they do feel that themselves, but it is wrong to assign it to others.

    Most people in Drummoyne (where I live, but also people elsewhere) are not vindictive, seeking “revenge” for imagined wrongs, or bitter. They just want the best for themselves and their families. I agree that Tsirekas will have difficulty overcoming the toxicity of the Labor brand, and that despite his success and popularity as Mayor, he is unlikely to win. But it is totally inaccurate Hawkeye to suggest that this candidate’s posters lack the Labor logo, and insulting to say that Tsirekas “lacks guts.”

    Saying that reveals something about yourself, nothing else. One thing is very clear, you don’t live in Drummoyne.

  27. Russell

    I disagree, I believe that most of the people of NSW are sick of the ALP doing nothing and lying to win the last 2 election, and will celebrate wildly when they are kicked out of office.

    It might not be hate, but something along the line of strongly dispise

  28. If the voters in Drummoyne didn’t vote for John Murphy and Julia Gillard, after years of faithful ALP voting federally, I don’t see how they will all of a sudden see the wisdom in voting for Angelo and Kristina.

    True, Angelo has been very successful at local government level, and has friends throughout the seat, but given the vote against Rudd/Gillard incompetence was around 52.8%, and John Murphy is still seen as a popular local, I don’t expect his local government profile to save him. In the end, the voters of Drummoyne will choose which government they prefer and decide while they might like Angelo, they don’t want to risk another 4 years of the ALP.

  29. Re: baseball bats/cricket bats/machine guns…
    I mostly expect the voters to be calmly and methodically voting against a bad government…most Australians keep what they really think for the simplicity of the ballot box. We have been trained over the years to trust our system and at this stage, very few major events have risked that.

    I would expect that most ALP people at the moment (and perhaps over the past six months) are getting a polite silence from the public, especially from those long since weary of not being heard, and those who have already made up their mind. This was common in 1999 and 2007 when the Libs went down…

    However it will still be brutal for the ALP. I guess the smart staffers and operatives looking for job security moved to Canberra when they could.

  30. The only thing it reveals is that I am cricket mad. If Jeremy Clarkson has an unhealthy obsession with hammers, I have an unhealthy obsession with cricket bats 😛

    I have already posted my thoughts on what is a changing demographic within Drummoyne. It is becomming more affluent, especially with the redevelopment of Top Ryde, West Ryde, Rhodes and Concord. I could see this seat becomming a Lib vs Green 2PP in the future. Not straight away but possibly within 8 years.

    You are missing the point though. The ALP brand, as a whole, is tarnished in NSW. There is only one poster that I have seen throughout Sydney that is still displaying Labor Colours and that is Nathan Rees. Not one other electorate is running those traditional Labor Colours, some even electing to deck their posters out in Green (I wonder why…).

    There is so much dis-respect for the brand that it will take at least 2 elections to gather back any kind of acknowledgement.

  31. OK, but I am not totally willing to give NSW to those who may get pleasure out of physical violence (with cricket bats, machine guns, or bombs). Very fortunately, most Australians don’t take politics so seriously, and most certainly don’t entertain physical violence against anyone. I do think the “cricket bat” and “machine gun” metaphors are demeaning to us, the voters of NSW. And while I can forgive journalists for being lazy enough to use them (over and over again), political players who do frighten me.

    Maybe that’s because I’m old enough to remember Peter Baldwin.

  33. Yeah it’s all over bar the shouting here.

    Hoping Tsirekas can prep himself mentally and prepare to run again in 4 years. He’d make a good member.

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