LIB 9.0%
Incumbent MP
Adam Crouch, since 2015.
Geography
Central Coast. Terrigal covers those parts of the City of Gosford running along the coast, as well as a tiny part of Wyong Shire. The seat covers Forresters Beach, Holgate, Wamberal, Erina, Terrigal, Avoca, Copacabana, Kincumber, Davistown, Empire Bay, Macmasters Beach and Killcare.
History
The seat of Terrigal was created at the 2007 election. It was largely the successor to the seat of Gosford. The 2007 redistribution had shifted borders such that the town of Gosford moved into the nieghbouring seat of Peats, resulting in Peats being renamed Gosford and the former Gosford being renamed Terrigal. The old seat of Gosford had shifted between parties, but had been held by the Liberals since 1988.
A district with the name ‘Gosford’ has existed since the 1950 election. Prior to that period the southern parts of the Central Coast were combined with a seat covering the Hawkesbury.
The seat was held by the Liberal Party from its creation in 1950 to 1971, when it was won by the ALP.
In 1973, the seat of Gosford was broken into the seats of Gosford and Peats. The seat of Peats is the most immediate predecessor of the current seat of Gosford, while the seat of Gosford in 1973 mostly resembles the current seat of Terrigal.
The ALP had first won Gosford in 1971, but when the seats were divided in 1973, the sitting member Keith O’Connell moved to the safer seat of Peats. Gosford was won by the Liberal Party’s Malcolm Brooks.
Brooks lost in 1976 to the ALP’s Brian McGowan by only 74 votes. McGowan held the seat until his defeat in 1988.
Chris Hartcher won Gosford for the Liberal Party in 1988. He served as a minister in the Coalition state government from 1992 to 1995. He retained Gosford throughout the 1990s, and in 2003 he held on by only 272 votes. He had been Liberal deputy leader from 2002 until 2003, but was replaced by Barry O’Farrell following the 2003 election.
Prior to the 2007 election, boundaries changed so that Gosford was effectively renamed Terrigal, and neighbouring Peats renamed Gosford. Hartcher won re-election to the renamed seat of Terrigal. Hartcher won a further term in 2011.
Hartcher was appointed Minister for Resources and Energy in the new Liberal/National government in 2011. He resigned from cabinet in December 2013 after his office was raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and in February 2014 he moved to the crossbench as the ICAC inquiry progressed.
Hartcher retired at the 2015 election, and Liberal candidate Adam Crouch won the seat.
Candidates
- Ross Blaikie (Conservatives)
- Gary Chestnut (Independent)
- Bob Doyle (Greens)
- Flavia Coleman (Animal Justice)
- Wayne Rigg (Sustainable Australia)
- Jeff Sundstrom (Labor)
- Adam Crouch (Liberal)
Assessment
Terrigal is a reasonably safe Liberal seat.
2015 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Adam Crouch | Liberal | 25,297 | 51.8 | -8.7 |
| Jeff Sundstrom | Labor | 15,338 | 31.4 | +13.2 |
| Doug Williamson | Greens | 5,782 | 11.8 | -1.6 |
| Murray Byrnes | Christian Democrats | 1,564 | 3.2 | +0.2 |
| Nadia Ruben | No Land Tax | 894 | 1.8 | +1.8 |
| Informal | 1,626 | 3.2 |
2015 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Adam Crouch | Liberal | 26,526 | 59.0 | -14.6 |
| Jeff Sundstrom | Labor | 18,420 | 41.0 | +14.6 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Terrigal have been split into three parts: central, north and south.
The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 55.8% in the centre to 62.2% in the north.
The Greens primary vote ranged from 11.2% in the centre and south to 12.9% in the north.
| Voter group | GRN prim % | LIB 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 11.2 | 55.8 | 14,772 | 30.2 |
| North | 12.9 | 62.2 | 11,794 | 24.1 |
| South | 11.2 | 57.3 | 7,145 | 14.6 |
| Other votes | 14.0 | 59.9 | 9,343 | 19.1 |
| Pre-poll | 8.7 | 61.4 | 5,821 | 11.9 |
Election results in Terrigal at the 2015 NSW state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and Greens primary votes.
Another Liberal seat that’s not as vulnerable as it looks – there was a big swing last time, as the whole area was victim to the ICAC, and this is the best Liberal area in the Central Coast – should stay blue unless Labor are on course for a Wranesque 1978/1981 victory.
safest liberal seat on the central coast… even the icac troubles did not cost them the seat
With Chris Hartcher and the ICAC troubles in the past, this will be easily held (relative to the statewide vote) by the Liberals – Riverstone, Parramatta and Mulgoa to name three would easily go red before this.