Summer Hill – NSW 2019

ALP 10.5% vs GRN

Incumbent MP
Jo Haylen, since 2015.

Geography
Inner west of Sydney. Summer Hill covers the suburbs of Ashbury, Ashfield, Dulwich Hill, Haberfield, Summer Hill and parts of Lewisham, Marrickville and Petersham. The seat covers most of the Ashfield council area and about half of the Marrickville council area, along with a small part of the City of Canterbury.

History
The seat of Summer Hill was created in 2015, mostly replacing the former seat of Marrickville.

There has been an electoral district named Marrickville since 1894, with the exception of three elections in the 1920s when the seat was merged into the multi-member district of Western Suburbs. The seat continuously elected Labor members from 1910 until it was abolished in 2015.

The original district of Marrickville covered a smaller area, with the other seats of Newtown-Camperdown, Petersham, Darlington, Newtown-Erskine and Newtown-St Peters covering parts of the modern seat.

The seat was won in 1917 by the ALP’s Carlo Lazzarini, who defeated Thomas Crawford, a former Labor member who had joined the Nationalists over the issue of conscription.

In 1920 Lazzarini moved to the multi-member district of Western Suburbs. He briefly served as a minister from 1921 to 1922, and in 1927 he returned to the seat of Marrickville.

Lazzarini was opposed to Jack Lang’s leadership of the NSW Labor Party, and he was expelled from the ALP in 1936. He rejoined in 1937, but later joined the dissident Industrial Labor Party. Following Lang’s departure he served as an assistant minister in the new Labor state government from 1941 to 1944. He held Marrickville until his death in 1952.

Marrickville was won at the February 1953 election by the Mayor of Marrickville, Norm Ryan. He served as a minister in the state Labor government from 1959 to 1965, and retired in 1973.

Ryan stepped aside in 1973 in favour of Tom Cahill. The son of NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, Tom had won his father’s seat of Cook’s River after his father’s death in 1959. Cook’s River was abolished at the 1973 election, and he moved to Marrickville. He held that seat until his death in 1983.

The 1983 by-election was won by Andrew Refshauge. Following the ALP’s election defeat in 1988 he was elected Deputy Leader. He served in this role until 2005. Refshauge became Deputy Premier when the ALP gained power in 1995. He served in a variety of ministerial roles over the next decade.

In 1995, the Liberal Party was pushed into third place behind the No Aircraft Noise party, who polled over 23% of the primary vote. The Greens came second after preferences in 1999, and the Liberals have never again come in the top two in Marrickville.

When Premier Bob Carr announced his retirement in 2005, Refshauge also announced his retirement, along with senior minister Craig Knowles. The Marrickville by-election was held alongside by-elections in Maroubra and Macquarie Fields.

The ALP ran Carmel Tebbutt, a former Marrickville councillor who had been a Member of the Legislative Council since 1998 and a minister since 1999. The Greens ran Deputy Mayor of Marrickville, Sam Byrne. The ALP’s 10.7% margin was cut to 5.1% in the by-election.

Tebbutt was re-elected in 2007, winning with a 7.5% margin over the Greens, less than in the 2003 election, but more than in the 2005 by-election. Tebbutt served as Labor deputy leader and Deputy Premier from 2008 to 2011.

At the 2011 election, Tebbutt again faced strong opposition from the Greens. Her margin was cut to 0.9%.

Tebbutt retired in 2015. The redrawn seat of Summer Hill was won by Labor candidate Jo Haylen.

Candidates

Assessment
Summer Hill is a reasonably safe Labor seat, although a surge in support for the Greens could imperil Labor’s position.

2015 result

2015 two-candidate-preferred result

2015 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths in Summer Hill have been split into four parts, based on the major centres of the electorate: Ashfield, Dulwich Hill, Haberfield and Marrickville.

Labor won a majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote (against the Greens) in all four areas, ranging from 59% in Haberfield to 62% in Ashfield.

The Liberal Party came third, with a primary vote ranging from 16.3% in Marrickville to 34.6% in Haberfield.

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

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