- Division of Cunningham
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This article is about the Australian federal electorate. For the former Queensland state electorate, see Electoral district of Cunningham.
Cunningham
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Cunningham (green) in New South WalesCreated: 1949 MP: Sharon Bird Party: Labor Namesake: Allan Cunningham Area: 721 km² (278 sq mi) Demographic: Provincial The Division of Cunningham is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Allan Cunningham, a 19th century explorer of New South Wales and Queensland. It is located on the coast of New South Wales between southern Sydney and Wollongong, and takes in parts of the city of Wollongong, including Corrimal, Figtree and Unanderra. It also includes several suburbs on the southern outskirts of Sydney, such as Heathcote and Bundeena. It has always been won by the Australian Labor Party, except at the 2002 by-election when it was lost to the Australian Greens, the first time that the Greens had held a seat in the House of Representatives. Labor recovered the seat at the October 2004 election. Its most prominent members have been Rex Connor, a senior minister in the Whitlam government, and Stephen Martin, who was Speaker 1993–96. The main products and means of livelihood in the area are tourism, tertiary education, steel production, coal mining, brick manufacturing, textiles and dairy farming.
Although the region is primarily rural, the vast majority of the population is located in the northern outskirts of Wollongong and along the eastern seaboard.
Contents
Geography
The Division covers areas east of the a ridge in the Great Dividing Range and is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the east. It is bounded to the north by the Royal National Park and to the south by the Wollongong suburbs of Figtree, Cordeaux Heights and Coniston.
Members
Member Party Years Billy Davies Labor 1949–1956 Victor Kearney Labor 1956–1963 Rex Connor Labor 1963–1977 Stewart West Labor 1977–1993 Stephen Martin Labor 1993–2002 Michael Organ Greens 2002–2004 Sharon Bird Labor 2004–present Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of CunninghamAustralian federal election, 2010: Cunningham Party Candidate Votes % ±% Labor Sharon Bird 43,769 49.17 -3.20 Liberal Philip Clifford 29,241 32.85 +4.94 Greens George Takacs 13,461 15.12 +0.90 Socialist Alliance Jess Moore 1,303 1.46 +0.68 Non-Custodial Parents John Flanagan 1,240 1.39 +0.85 Total formal votes 89,014 94.32 -1.77 Informal votes 5,359 5.68 +1.77 Turnout 94,373 93.72 -2.41 Two-candidate preferred result Labor Sharon Bird 56,234 63.17 -3.70 Liberal Philip Clifford 32,780 36.83 +3.70 Labor hold Swing -3.70 References
- Division of Cunningham - Australian Electoral Commission
- Wilson, Peter (2002). The Australian Political Almanack.
Categories:- Electoral divisions of Australia
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