Created in 1971, Miranda had traditionally been a Liberal electorate, being won by Labor only at landslide elections, two under Neville Wran in 1978 and 1981, and again under Bob Carr in 1999 and 2003. According to ABCpsephologistAntony Green, the seat should have been recovered by the Liberals in 2007 but was narrowly retained by Labor. On a margin of 0.8 percent it was the Labor government's most marginal seat. In 2011 the Liberals won government in a landslide, and the seat of Miranda on a very safe 21.0 percent margin, with 39 seats held by the Coalition on smaller margins.[2]
The seat was made vacant following the resignation of Liberal MP Graham Annesley. The 2013 Miranda by-election was conducted on 19 October, Labor's Barry Collier won the seat with a two-party swing of 26 percent in the largest by-election swing in the state's history.[3] He did not stand for re-election at the 2015 NSW State election and the seat was subsequently won by the Liberal Party's Eleni Petinos.[4]