Davidson – NSW 2019

LIB 28.8% vs GRN

Incumbent MP
Jonathan O’Dea, since 2007.

Geography
Northern Sydney. Davidson covers parts of Ku-ring-gai, Warringah and Willoughby local government areas, including the suburbs of Roseville, Lindfield, Killara, Castle Cove, Davidson and Belrose, and parts of St Ives.

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 was re-elected in 2011 and 2015.

Candidates

• Jacob Shteyman (Keep Sydney Open)
• Stephen Molloy (Sustainable Australia)
• Jonathan O’Dea (Liberal)
• Joe Von Bornemann (Labor)
• Felicity Davis (Greens)

Assessment
Davidson is a very safe Liberal seat.

2015 result

2015 two-candidate-preferred result

2015 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths in Davidson have been split into three parts. Polling places in the Warringah council area have been grouped as “east”, while those in Ku-ring-gai and Willoughby 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 76.8% in the south to 81% in the west.

Labor came third, with a primary vote ranging from 11.4% in the west to 12.8% in both the east and south.

Election results in Willoughby at the 2015 NSW state election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred (Liberal vs Greens) votes and Labor primary votes.

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