Division of Cunningham

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
300px Division of Cunningham (green) in New South Wales
Created	1949
MP	Sharon Bird
Party	Labor
Namesake	Allan Cunningham
Electors	104,084 (2013)
Area	721 km2 (278.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Cunningham is an Australian electoral division in the state of 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.

The division is located on the coast of New South Wales between southern Sydney and Wollongong. It takes in the northern portion of Wollongong, including Corrimal, Figtree and Unanderra. It also includes several of Sydney's outer southern suburbs, including Heathcote and Bundeena. The division covers areas east of the Illawarra escarpment and is bounded by the Tasman Sea 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. 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. The main products and means of livelihood in the area are tourism, tertiary education, steel production, coal mining, brick manufacturing, textiles and dairy farming.

The sitting member, since the 2004 federal election, is Sharon Bird, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

History

The division has always been represented by the Australian Labor Party, except following the 2002 by-election when the Greens won the seat; being the first time that the Greens held a seat in the House of Representatives. Labor recovered the seat at the 2004 federal election. The Illawarra is one of the few non-metropolitan regions where Labor has consistently done well.

Its most prominent members have been Rex Connor, a senior minister in the Whitlam government, and Stephen Martin, who was Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 1993–1996, during the last term of the Keating government.

Cunningham is Labor's safest non-metropolitan seat, with a nine percent swing needed for the Liberals to win it.

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 Cunningham

Australian federal election, 2013: Cunningham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Sharon Bird	41,522	45.54	−3.63
	Liberal	Philip Clifford	30,685	33.65	+0.80
	Greens	Helen Wilson	10,730	11.77	−3.35
	Palmer United	Christopher Atlee	4,253	4.66	+4.66
	Christian Democrats	Rob George	2,204	2.42	+2.42
	Non-Custodial Parents	John Flanagan	897	0.98	−0.41
	Katter's Australian	John Bursill	886	0.97	+0.97
Total formal votes			91,177	93.63	−0.69
Informal votes			6,208	6.37	+0.69
Turnout			97,385	93.56	−0.21
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Sharon Bird	54,595	59.88	−3.29
	Liberal	Philip Clifford	36,582	40.12	+3.29
	Labor hold		Swing	−3.29

External links

• Division of Cunningham - Australian Electoral Commission