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Kingsford Smith
Australian House of Representatives Division
Kingsford Smith; Australian House of Representatives Division
	Division of Kingsford Smith in Sydney, as of the 2016 federal election
Created	1949
MP	Matt Thistlethwaite
Party	Labor
Namesake	Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
Electors	115,317 (2022)
Area	91 km2 (35.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan

The Division of Kingsford Smith is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. It is located south and south-east of Sydney CBD, comprising mostly City of Randwick and the suburbs of Bayside Council that were governed by the former City of Botany Bay.

History

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, the division's namesake

The division is named after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, a pioneer aviator, who was the first pilot to fly across the Pacific Ocean. The Kingsford Smith International Airport (Sydney International), and the suburb of Kingsford, both of which are located within the division, are also named after him. The division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 11 May 1949^{[citation needed]}, and was first contested at the 1949 federal election.

Kingsford Smith has been in Labor hands for its entire existence. A redistribution ahead of the 1969 election made it one of the safest Labor seats in both Sydney and the nation^{[citation needed]}, and it remained a comfortably safe Labor seat for most of the next four decades. However, demographic changes since 2010, have made the seat much less secure for Labor. It has previously been held by Lionel Bowen, a minister in the Whitlam government, Deputy Leader of the Labor Party from 1977 to 1990, and Deputy Prime Minister for most of the Hawke government, and by Laurie Brereton, a minister in the Keating government. It was then held by Peter Garrett, a former lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, former President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, and a minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments. Garrett announced his retirement on 26 June 2013.^[1]

The Division was originally known as the Division of Kingsford-Smith (with a hyphen), based upon a misspelling of Sir Charles's surname. However, this was corrected at the redistribution in 2001.^[2]

The current Member for Kingsford Smith, since the 2013 federal election, is Matt Thistlethwaite, a member of the Australian Labor Party who resigned from the Senate prior to the election.^[3]

Boundaries

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.^[4]

The division is located to the south and south-east of Sydney CBD, on the north shore of Botany Bay, and the coast of the Tasman Sea. The division includes the suburbs of Banksmeadow, Botany, Chifley, Coogee, Daceyville, East Botany, Eastgardens, Eastlakes, Hillsdale, Kensington, Kingsford, La Perouse, Little Bay, Malabar, Maroubra, Maroubra Junction, Mascot, Matraville, Pagewood, Phillip Bay, Port Botany, and South Coogee; as well as parts of Clovelly, Randwick, and Rosebery. Bare Island, Prince Henry Hospital, and the University of New South Wales are also located in the electorate.

Members

Member	Party	Term	Notes
Gordon Anderson (1897–1958)	Labor	10 December 1949 – 4 November 1955	Retired
Dan Curtin (1898–1980)		10 December 1955 – 29 September 1969	Previously held the Division of Watson. Retired
Lionel Bowen (1922–2012)		25 October 1969 – 19 February 1990	Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Randwick. Served as minister under Whitlam and Hawke. Served as Deputy Prime Minister under Hawke. Retired
Laurie Brereton (1946–)		24 March 1990 – 31 August 2004	Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Heffron. Served as minister under Keating. Retired
Peter Garrett (1953–)		9 October 2004 – 5 August 2013	Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Retired
Matt Thistlethwaite (1972–)		7 September 2013 – present	Previously a member of the Senate. Incumbent

Election results

2022 Australian federal election: Kingsford Smith^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Matt Thistlethwaite	46,697	47.91	+2.74
	Liberal	Grace Tan	27,929	28.66	−7.77
	Greens	Stuart Davis	16,401	16.83	+4.73
	United Australia	Anthony Tawaf	3,388	3.48	+1.73
	One Nation	Darrin Marr	3,051	3.13	+3.13
Total formal votes			97,466	95.52	+1.31
Informal votes			4,572	4.48	−1.31
Turnout			102,038	88.50	−1.67
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Matt Thistlethwaite	62,868	64.50	+5.69
	Liberal	Grace Tan	34,598	35.50	−5.69
	Labor hold		Swing	+5.69