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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Wentworth, New South Wales
Eastern Sydney: Bondi, East Sydney, Vaucluse, Woollahra
Sitting member: Hon Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal), elected 2004
Enrolment at close of rolls: 102,811
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 17.7%
2016 notional Liberal majority over Labor: 18.9%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Dejay Toborek
Australian Greens |
2. Peter Xing
Science Party |
3. Anthony Ackroyd
The Arts Party |
4. Beresford Thomas
Christian Democrats |
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5. David Allen
Independent |
6. Hon Malcolm Turnbull
Liberal Party |
7. Evan Hughes
Australian Labor Party |
8. Marc Aussie-Stone
Independent |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Wentworth has existed since Federation, and has always covered Sydney's eastern harborside suburbs, one of the wealthiest areas in Australia. Before 1949 Wentworth extended as far south as Maroubra, and in 1943 Labor came quite close to winning it, but after 1949 it was one of the safest of Liberal seats. Since 1984, however, successive redistributions have extended Wentworth to the south, taking in Bondi and Waverley, making the seat slightly less blue- ribbon Liberal. Despite this, the seat still has higher levels of median family income and of people in professional occupations than almost any other seat. Its fairly high proportion of people born in non English speaking countries largely reflects the European birthplaces of many people in the electorate's large Jewish community. The very low proportion of families with dependent children and of dwellings being purchased reflects the many affluent flat-dwelling singles in the seat, which has a large gay and lesbian community at the western end.
Wentworth is a traditional "leadership seat" for the conservative parties. Members have included Liberal ministers Sir Eric Harrison, Leslie Bury and Robert Ellicott, and Opposition Leader Dr John Hewson. Peter King won the seat in 2001, but was bundled out in 2004 to make way for Malcolm Turnbull, a millionaire banker and former leader of the Australian Republican Movement. The 2006 redistribution cut the Liberal majority to only 2.6%, and for a while in 2007 it seemed possible that Turnbull would be defeated, but he survived, and since then he has restored Wentworth's status as a safe Liberal seat.
Malcolm Turnbull, Liberal MP for Wentworth since 2004, was born in Sydney, the son of a hotel-broker. He graduated in arts and law from Sydney University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He worked as a barrister and journalist, and was general counsel and secretary for Kerry packer's media company. He made his name in defending Peter Wright in the "Spycatcher" case in 1986. Later he went into merchant banking and was a partner at Goldman Sachs. He was a pioneer of intenet services in Australia, and in 1999 sold his OzEmail company for a reported $60 million. His various business activities made him a multi-millionaire.
In 1993 Turnbull became chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, and led the campaign for an Australian republic until the defeat of the 1999 referendum. Although this made him unpopular with many conservatives, he joined the Liberal Party in 2000 (he had previously been a member in the 1980s, despite several flirtations with the Labor Party), and in 2002 became the party's Federal Treasurer. In 2004 he spent freely to secure the Liberal nomination for Wentworth.
Prime Minister Howard did not particularly welcome Turnbull in Canberra, but in January 2007 he made him Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. After the 2007 election defeat, he contested the Liberal leadership, but was narrowly defeated by Dr Brendan Nelson, and became Shadow Treasurer. In September 2008 he rolled the hapless Nelson and became Liberal leader. But in late 2009 he created a crisis in the Liberal Party by agreeing to support Labor's emissions trading scheme legislation. The right wing of the party, led by Tony Abbott, revolted, and in December 2009 Abbott replaced Turnbull as leader.
Abbott appointed Turnbull Minister for Communications. By 2015 the Abbott government was floundering, and in September Turnbull mounted a party-room challenge and became Prime Minister. He had an initial surge of popularity, but by April 2016 his government's support had fallen back to 50% in most polls, alhough he remained "preferred PM" by a wide margin.
Labor's candidate in Wentworth is Evan Hughes, an art dealer. This is once again an extremely safe Liberal seat and Turnbull will have no concerns in his electorate at
this election.
This is the 21st time Marc Aussie-Stone has stood for the Commonwealth Parliament, more times than any other candidate.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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