Division of Watson

This article is about the current federal electorate. For the previous electorate, see Division of Watson (1934–1969).

The Division of Watson is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Watson Australian House of Representatives Division
From the 2016 federal election to 2025 From the 2025 federal election Interactive map of electorate boundaries
Created	1992
MP	Tony Burke
Party	Labor
Namesake	Chris Watson
Electors	116,745 (2025)
Area	51 km2 (19.7 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Watson: Blaxland Reid Reid Fowler Watson Grayndler Banks Banks Barton
Footnotes
[1]

Watson is an urban electorate in Sydney and since 2024, it extends from the Hume Highway, Canterbury Road to the south, Georges River to the west and Cooks River to the east.^[2] It has a large immigrant population, with significant Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Lebanese communities.^[3]

History

Chris Watson, the division's namesake

The division was created at the redistribution of 31 January 1992, to replace the abolished Division of St George and is named after the Right Honourable Chris Watson, the first Labor Prime Minister of Australia. It was first contested at the 1993 federal election. There was previously another Division of Watson (1934-69), originally Chris Watson's old seat of South Sydney and located in the south-eastern suburbs of Sydney, however that Division is not connected to this one except in name. In the 2009 redistribution, the boundaries of Watson moved significantly northwest, losing the south-eastern suburbs in the St George area such as Hurstville, retaining the south-western suburbs such as Belmore, and adding a significant part of the Inner West.

While St George was a marginal seat, Watson has been a safe Labor seat for nearly all of its existence. The only time Labor's hold was seriously threatened was in 2013, when Labor was held to 56 percent of the two-party vote.

It was previously held by Leo McLeay, a former Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives. The current Member for Watson, since the 2004 federal election, is Tony Burke, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

In 2017, the division had the second-highest percentage of "No" responses in the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, with 69.64% of the electorate's respondents to the survey responding "No".^[4] The Survey had strong opposition from Muslim voters in the electorate.^[5][6]

Demographics

Watson is a diverse and socially conservative electorate^[5] which is historically working-class.^[6] Despite being a stronghold for the centre-left Labor Party, many voters in Watson maintain socially-conservative values from their immigrant cultures.^[6] According to the 2016 census, only 44.4% of electors were born in Australia.^[3]

At 23.4%, Watson has one of the highest Islamic populations of any electorate in Australia,^[3] more than 20 times the national average.^[6]

Boundaries

Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia are 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 south-western suburbs of Sydney. Since the 2024 redistribution, the division includes the suburbs of Bankstown, Bankstown Aerodrome, Belfield, Chullora, Condell Park, Georges Hall, Greenacre, Lakemba, Lansdowne, Mount Lewis, Strathfield South, Wiley Park; as well as parts of Bass Hill, Belmore, Campsie, Canterbury, Kingsgrove, Lidcombe, Padstow, Punchbowl, Rookwood, and Yagoona.^[8][9]

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Leo McLeay (1945–)	Labor	13 March 1993 – 31 August 2004	Previously held the Division of Grayndler. Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Keating. Retired
		Tony Burke (1969–)		9 October 2004 – present	Previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Incumbent. Currently a minister under Albanese

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Watson

2025 Australian federal election: Watson^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Tony Burke	39,503	47.92	−6.19
	Liberal	Zakir Alam	12,532	15.20	−11.22
	Independent	Ziad Basyouny	12,174	14.77	+14.77
	Greens	Jocelyn Brewer	7,347	8.91	+1.80
	Libertarian	Vanessa Hadchiti	3,565	4.33	+4.33
	One Nation	Elisha Trevena	2,661	3.23	−2.06
	Trumpet of Patriots	John Koukoulis	2,158	2.62	+2.62
	Family First	John Mannah	1,424	1.73	+1.73
	Independent	Zain Khan	1,063	1.29	+1.29
Total formal votes			82,427	82.72	−6.65
Informal votes			17,219	17.28	+6.65
Turnout			99,646	85.57	+2.25
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Tony Burke	55,057	66.79	+66.79
	Independent	Ziad Basyouny	27,370	33.21	+33.21
	Labor hold		Swing	+66.79

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

Results are not final. Last updated on 16 May 2025 at 10:40 PM AEST.

2022 Australian federal election: Watson^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Tony Burke	44,464	51.87	+0.18
	Liberal	Sazeda Akter	22,759	26.55	−2.85
	Greens	Bradley Schott	8,200	9.57	+2.47
	United Australia	John Koukoulis	6,126	7.15	+2.94
	One Nation	Alan Jorgensen	4,178	4.87	+4.87
Total formal votes			85,727	90.27	+2.88
Informal votes			9,245	9.73	−2.88
Turnout			94,972	87.36	−2.09
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Tony Burke	55,810	65.10	+1.58
	Liberal	Sazeda Akter	29,917	34.90	−1.58
	Labor hold		Swing	+1.58

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

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Watson in the 2022 federal election. The winning candidate got over 50% of first preference votes, so this alluvial diagram is indicative only, and preference flows were not used to determine the final result. The preference flows were used to determine the two-candidate-preferred.