Division of Gilmore

The Division of Gilmore is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. It lies on the South Coast between Kiama and Moruya.

Gilmore Australian House of Representatives Division
Interactive map of electorate boundaries from the 2025 federal election
Created	1984
MP	Fiona Phillips
Party	Labor
Namesake	Dame Mary Gilmore
Electors	129,095 (2025)
Area	6,322 km2 (2,440.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Electorates around Gilmore: Hume Whitlam Pacific Ocean Eden-Monaro Gilmore Pacific Ocean Eden-Monaro Eden-Monaro Pacific Ocean

History

Dame Mary Gilmore, the division's namesake

The Division of Gilmore was created in 1984 when the House of Representatives was expanded, and was named after Dame Mary Gilmore, the poet and author. The seat was first won by John Sharp of the National Party. The electorate originally included the areas of Goulburn and Southern Highlands, but following a redistribution the seat moved to its current boundaries along the New South Wales South Coast. As a consequence, Sharp moved to the nearby seat of Hume in 1993. He was in the First Howard Ministry until he resigned in 1997 due to the "travel rorts affair".^{[citation needed]}

The seat was won by the ALP's Peter Knott in 1993, but he was defeated at the 1996 election by Joanna Gash of the Liberal Party. The seat was considered marginal after the 1996 and 1998 elections, but a big swing in 2001 saw Gash hold the seat by a much larger margin. That was cut back to a margin of about 4 points in 2007.

Gilmore's boundaries were redrawn before the 2010 election, making the seat a notional Labor one, but Gash gained a 5.7-point swing. She announced her retirement in 2012, and was later elected Mayor of Shoalhaven.

At the 2013 federal election, Gash was succeeded by Liberal candidate Ann Sudmalis, who won despite a 2.7-point swing to Labor. Sudmalis suffered a further 3-point swing in the 2016 election, but narrowly won a second term by only 1,503 of the two-party-preferred vote.^[1] On 17 September 2018 Sudmalis announced that she would not contest the forthcoming election, blaming what she called ego-driven bullying, betrayal, and backstabbing by Gareth Ward, a Liberal member of state parliament for an electorate that overlaps hers.^[2]

On 22 January 2019 prime minister Scott Morrison announced that Warren Mundine would be the Liberal Party's candidate for the seat in the 2019 election, after Mundine joined the party that same day.^[3][4][5][6] Mundine, and former Liberal party member Grant Schultz, who ran as an independent, were defeated by the ALP's Fiona Phillips. She won the seat at the 2022 election by 379 votes and retained it in 2025 with an increased margin.

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.^[7]

The division is located in the Shoalhaven and the southern Illawarra regions. It covers all of the Kiama and Shoalhaven local government areas, and the northern and central parts of the Eurobodalla. The most northerly part of the electorate is Minnamurra and the most southerly part is on the northern outskirts of Tuross Head. The western boundary includes much of the Budawang and Morton National Parks.

Towns and suburbs includes Nowra, Minnamurra, Kiama, Gerringong, Berry, Kangaroo Valley, Bomaderry, Worrigee, Greenwell Point, Culburra Beach, Callala Bay, Sussex Inlet, Milton, Ulladulla, Batemans Bay and Moruya.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		John Sharp (1954–)	Nationals	1 December 1984 – 13 March 1993	Transferred to the Division of Hume
		Peter Knott (1956–2015)	Labor	13 March 1993 – 2 March 1996	Lost seat
		Joanna Gash (1944–)	Liberal	2 March 1996 – 5 August 2013	Retired
		Ann Sudmalis (1955–)		7 September 2013 – 11 April 2019	Retired
		Fiona Phillips (1970–)	Labor	18 May 2019 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Gilmore

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Gilmore.[edit]

2025 Australian federal election: Gilmore^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Fiona Phillips	42,342	38.13	+2.19
	Liberal	Andrew Constance	38,247	34.44	−7.56
	Independent	Kate Dezarnaulds	8,371	7.54	+7.54
	Greens	Debbie Killian	7,932	7.14	−3.09
	One Nation	John Hawke	5,557	5.00	+1.00
	Legalise Cannabis	Adrian Carle	4,124	3.71	+3.71
	Trumpet of Patriots	Melissa Wise	2,476	2.23	+2.23
	Family First	Graham Brown	2,004	1.80	+1.80
Total formal votes			111,053	93.10	−2.47
Informal votes			8,225	6.90	+2.47
Turnout			119,278	92.47	+1.81
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Fiona Phillips	61,223	55.13	+4.96
	Liberal	Andrew Constance	49,830	44.87	−4.96
	Labor hold		Swing	+4.96

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Gilmore.[edit]

2022 Australian federal election: Gilmore^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andrew Constance	46,941	42.02	+12.83
	Labor	Fiona Phillips	40,175	35.97	−0.22
	Greens	Carmel McCallum	11,417	10.22	+0.25
	Independent	Nina Digiglio	4,721	4.23	+4.23
	One Nation	Jerremy Eid	4,453	3.99	+3.99
	United Australia	Jordan Maloney	3,108	2.78	−0.60
	Liberal Democrats	Adrian Fadini	890	0.80	+0.80
Total formal votes			111,705	95.58	+0.83
Informal votes			5,170	4.42	−0.83
Turnout			116,875	91.59	−1.29
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Fiona Phillips	56,039	50.17	−2.44
	Liberal	Andrew Constance	55,666	49.83	+2.44
	Labor hold		Swing	−2.44

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Gilmore in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.