Division of Kingsford Smith

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 most of the City of Randwick and Bayside Council. It is currently represented by Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite.

Kingsford Smith Australian House of Representatives Division
Interactive map of electorate boundaries from the 2025 federal election
Created	1949
MP	Matt Thistlethwaite
Party	Labor
Namesake	Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
Electors	117,455 (2025)
Area	61 km2 (23.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Kingsford Smith: Grayndler Sydney Wentworth Barton Kingsford Smith Tasman Sea Cook Cook Tasman Sea

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. 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]

Geography

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, Brighton-Le-Sands, Chifley, Daceyville, East Botany, Eastgardens, Eastlakes, Hillsdale, Kensington, Kingsford, Kyeemagh, La Perouse, Little Bay, Malabar, Maroubra, Maroubra Junction, Mascot, Matraville, Monterey, Pagewood, Phillip Bay, Port Botany, Ramsgate Beach and South Coogee; along with parts of Coogee, Randwick and Rosebery. Bare Island, Prince Henry Hospital, Sydney Airport and the University of New South Wales are also located in the electorate.

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]

Members

Image		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

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Kingsford Smith

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

2025 Australian federal election: Kingsford Smith^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Matt Thistlethwaite	50,346	50.79	+3.45
	Liberal	Brad Cole	25,924	26.15	−3.46
	Greens	Keiron Brown	13,440	13.56	−2.20
	One Nation	Mark Jelic	5,865	5.92	+2.44
	Independent	Elsa Parker	3,557	3.59	+3.59
Total formal votes			99,132	94.18	−1.05
Informal votes			6,126	5.82	+1.05
Turnout			105,258	89.66	+0.22
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Matt Thistlethwaite	66,604	67.19	+3.88
	Liberal	Brad Cole	32,528	32.81	−3.88
	Labor hold		Swing	+3.88

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

2022 Australian federal election: Kingsford Smith^[6]

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

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