Electoral district of Balmain

Balmain is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's Inner West. It is currently represented by Kobi Shetty of the Greens.

Balmain New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
State	New South Wales
Created	1885, 2007
Abolished	1894, 1991
MP	Kobi Shetty
Party	Greens
Namesake	Balmain, New South Wales
Electors	58,785 (2023)
Area	16.14 km2 (6.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Balmain: Drummoyne Lane Cove North Shore Drummoyne Summer Hill Balmain Sydney Summer Hill Newtown Newtown

Geography

On its current boundaries, Balmain includes the suburbs and localities of Annandale, Balmain, Balmain East, Birchgrove, Forest Lodge, Glebe, Glebe Island, Leichhardt, Lilyfield, Rozelle, White Bay and parts of Camperdown and Ultimo.^[1]

History

Balmain was established in 1880 and from 1882, it elected two members, from 1885 it elected three members and from 1889 until 1894 it elected four members simultaneously. Voters cast a vote for each vacancy and the leading candidates were elected. In 1894 it was split into Balmain North, Balmain South, Annandale and Leichhardt, each electing one member. In 1904 with the downsizing of the Assembly after Federation, Balmain North and part of Balmain South were combined into a single electorate, electing one member. In 1920, parts of the electoral districts of Balmain, Annandale, Camperdown, Darling Harbour, Glebe and Rozelle were combined to create a new incarnation of Balmain, which elected five members by proportional representation. This was replaced by single member electorates of Balmain, Annandale, Glebe and Rozelle for the 1927 election. Balmain was abolished in 1991, being replaced by Port Jackson. It was recreated for the 2007 election, taking in large parts of the abolished district of Port Jackson (the Sydney CBD and Pyrmont, which were previously in Port Jackson, became part of the new Electoral district of Sydney).

Historically, Balmain has been a working-class seat and very safe for Labor—at the 1978 election, Labor won an 84.2 percent two-party vote. However, as with several inner-city seats, demographic change and the rise of the Greens has seen a strong Green vote in Balmain since the party first contested the seat from the seat's recreation at the 2007 election. Following the 2019 election, it is considered a safe Greens seat.^[2][3][4][5]

Matthews' ALP supporters. Photograph by Sam Hood taken about 1934

Following the 2023 New South Wales state election, the seat became a marginal Greens seat following the retirement of Jamie Parker.

Members for Balmain

First incarnation (1880–1894)
1880–1882, 1 member
Member		Party	Term
	Jacob Garrard [6]	None	1880–1882
1882–1885, 2 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Jacob Garrard [6]	None	1882–1885		William Hutchinson [7]	None	1882–1885
1885–1889, 3 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Jacob Garrard [6]	None	1885–1887		Solomon Hyam [8]	None	1885–1887		John Hawthorne [9]	None	1885–1887
		Free Trade	1887–1889		Frank Smith [10]	Free Trade	1887–1889			Free Trade	1887–1889
1889–1894, 4 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Jacob Garrard [6]	Free Trade	1889–1891		Frank Smith [10]	Free Trade	1889–1891		John Hawthorne [9]	Free Trade	1889–1891		George Clubb [11]	Free Trade	1889–1891
	George Clark [12]	Labour	1891–1891		Edward Darnley [13]	Labour	1891–1894		James Johnston [14]	Labour	1891–1894		William Murphy [15]	Labour	1891–1894
		Free Trade	1891–1894
Second incarnation (1904–1991)
1904–1920, 1 member
Member		Party	Term
	Walter Anderson [16]	Liberal Reform	1904–1907
	John Storey [17]	Labour	1907–1920
1920–1927, 5 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	John Storey [17]	Labor	1920–1921		John Doyle [18]	Labor	1920–1922		Robert Stuart-Robertson [19]	Labor	1920–1927		John Quirk [20]	Labor	1920–1927		Albert Smith [21]	Nationalist	1920–1922
	Tom Keegan [22]	Labor	1921 [a]–1927
					Robert Stopford [25]	Nationalist	1922–1925										Albert Lane [26]	Nationalist	1922–1927
					H. V. Evatt [27]	Labor	1925–1927
1927–1991, 1 member
Member		Party	Term
	H. V. Evatt [27]	Independent Labor	1927–1930
	John Quirk [20]	Labor	1930–1938
	Mary Quirk [28]	Labor	1939–1940
		Labor (N-C)	1940–1941
		Labor	1941–1950
		Independent Labor	1950–1950
	John McMahon [29]	Labor	1950–1968
	Roger Degen [30]	Labor	1968–1984
	Peter Crawford [31]	Labor	1984–1988
	Dawn Fraser [32]	Independent	1988–1991
Third incarnation (2007–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	Verity Firth [33]	Labor	2007–2011
	Jamie Parker [34]	Greens	2011–2023
	Kobi Shetty	Greens	2023–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the district of Balmain

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly) § Balmain.[edit]

2023 New South Wales state election: Balmain^[35][36][37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Greens	Kobi Shetty	20,240	40.48	−2.25
	Labor	Philippa Scott	18,555	37.11	+8.25
	Liberal	Freya Leach	9,566	19.13	−0.90
	Sustainable Australia	Stephen Bisgrove	1,189	2.38	+0.84
	Public Education	Glen Stelzer	447	0.89	+0.89
Total formal votes			49,997	98.39	−0.05
Informal votes			820	1.61	+0.05
Turnout			50,817	86.45	−0.28
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Philippa Scott	32,752	74.50	+4.05
	Liberal	Freya Leach	11,208	25.50	−4.05
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Kobi Shetty	22,118	51.80	−8.22
	Labor	Philippa Scott	20,580	48.20	+8.22
	Greens hold		Swing	−8.22

Notes

1. John Storey died and Tom Keegan was appointed to replace him in accordance with the Parliamentary Elections (Casual Vacancies) Act.^[23][24]