Electoral district of Pittwater

Pittwater is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. Located in Sydney's north-east, it is 175.32 km² in size, and comprises the local government area of Pittwater Council and parts of Warringah Council. There are approximately 43,000 registered voters.

It is named after Pittwater, a body of water the district roughly surrounds.

It includes the suburbs or localities of Avalon, Bayview, Bilgola, Church Point, Cottage Point, Duffys Forest, Elanora Heights, Ingleside, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Mona Vale, Narrabeen, Newport, North Narrabeen, Palm Beach, Scotland Island, Terrey Hills, and Warriewood.

The current Member of Parliament for Pittwater is Rob Stokes of the Liberal Party of Australia. He was elected at the 2007 state election for a four-year term.

History

The electoral district of Pittwater was created in 1973, and quickly developed a reputation as a safe Liberal seat. The first member elected to the seat was Sir Robert William Askin, then Premier of New South Wales.

The seat was famously held by New South Wales Opposition Leader John Brogden until his dramatic resignation in 2005. The Liberal stranglehold on the seat was lost in the resulting by-election when the Mayor of Pittwater Council, Alex McTaggart, standing as an Independent candidate, defeated the Liberal Paul Nicolau in a landslide.

Current member

Alex McTaggart lost the seat in the 2007 general election, with new Liberal candidate Rob Stokes comfortably regaining the seat for his party. Stokes won on the primary vote alone, gaining just over 50%. After preferences, his share was 61% to McTaggart's 39%. Stokes won every booth in the district with the exception of Scotland Island, whose few hundred offshore voters traditionally buck the trend.

Stokes was an environmental lawyer and lecturer at Macquarie University, as well as a trainer at Mona Vale Surf Life-Saving Club. He is married to Sophie and they have three young children.

After the election, Stokes established his electorate office in Mona Vale. His first policy advisor and press secretary was former ABC and BBC journalist Peter Heaton-Jones, who left in December 2007 when selected as a Conservative Party candidate in the UK. He was replaced by Fabia Silvester, head of the Pittwater Young Liberals. The electorate office manager is Jill Dubois, who held the same post under previous Liberal member John Brogden. It is one of several links between the two men; Stokes was Brogden's policy advisor, and the two families are close friends. Stokes paid tribute to John Brogden in his inaugural speech to the NSW Parliament on 31 May 2007.

In May 2008, Stokes was promoted to the post of Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Planning.

Members for Pittwater

References

* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1517487.htm "Liberals lose NSW by-election"] , "ABC News Online", 2005-11-26

External links

*cite web
title=Pittwater Electoral District
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/electoral_districts/all_districts_/pittwater
accessdate = 2007-01-26
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Pittwater Results 2007
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/lapreferential.pittwater.aspx
accessdate = 2007-05-06
*cite web
title=Results from Pittwater State By-election held 26 November 2005
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/pittwater/results/2005_byelection
accessdate = 2007-01-26
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Pittwater Results 2003
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/pittwater/results/2003
accessdate = 2007-01-26
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Pittwater Results 1999
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/pittwater/results/1999
accessdate = 2007-01-26