Electoral district of Camden

For the Legislative Council district pre-1856, see Electoral district of County of Camden.

Camden is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's south-west. It is currently represented by Sally Quinnell of the Labor party, who achieved a 13% swing in the 2023 election.

Camden New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1859–1920, 1981–current
MP	Sally Quinnell
Party	Labor
Namesake	Camden, New South Wales
Electors	70,392 (2019)
Area	228 km2 (88.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer-metropolitan
Electorates around Camden: Wollondilly Badgerys Creek Leppington Wollondilly Camden Campbelltown Wollondilly Wollondilly Campbelltown

Geography

On its current boundaries, Camden takes in the suburbs of Bickley Vale, Camden, Camden Park, Camden South, Catherine Field, Cawdor, Cobbitty, Currans Hill, Elderslie, Ellis Lane, Gledswood Hills, Grasmere, Gregory Hills, Harrington Park, Kirkham, Mount Annan, Narellan, Narellan Vale, Smeaton Grange, and Spring Farm.^[1]

History

Camden was originally created in 1859, replacing part of West Camden and named after the town of Camden or Camden County, which includes Camden, the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra. It elected two members from 1859 to 1889 and three members from 1889 to 1894, when multi-member electorates were abolished. It was abolished in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation and absorbed into Cumberland. It was recreated in 1981.^[2] In recent decades it has been a marginal seat, falling to both the Labor and Liberal parties on separate occasions. Except in 1984-91 and 1995-2003, Camden in its second incarnation, has been held by the government party.

Camden was evident as a bellwether seat at the 1991 election when the ALP lost the seat to the Liberal Party despite the former party making huge gains at that election which was close but not enough for them to win the election. If the ALP had retained Camden in 1991, the party would have been in a strong position to form a minority government when it then won The Entrance by-election in 1992.

Members for Camden

First incarnation (1859–1889, 2 members)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Henry Oxley	None	1859–1860		William Wild	None	1859–1860
	John Morrice	None	1860–1872		John Douglas	None	1860–1861
					David Bell	None	1861–1864
					Richard Roberts	None	1864–1869
					Arthur Onslow	None	1869–1880
	Thomas Garrett	None	1872–1887
					John Kidd	None	1880–1882
					William McCourt	None	1882–1885
					John Kidd	None	1885–1887
		Free Trade	1887–1889		William McCourt	Free Trade	1887–1889
1889–1894, 3 members
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Thomas Garrett	Free Trade	1889–1891		William McCourt	Free Trade	1889–1894		John Kidd	Protectionist	1889–1894
	William Cullen	Free Trade	1891–1894
1894–1920, 1 member
Member		Party	Term
	John Kidd	Protectionist	1894–1895
	Charles Bull	Free Trade	1895–1898
	John Kidd	Protectionist	1898–1901
		Progressive	1901–1904
	Fred Downes	Liberal Reform	1904–1913
	John Hunt	Liberal Reform	1913–1917
		Nationalist	1917–1920
Second incarnation (1981–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	Ralph Brading	Labor	1981–1984
	John Fahey	Liberal	1984–1988
	Peter Primrose	Labor	1988–1991
	Liz Kernohan	Liberal	1991–2003
	Geoff Corrigan	Labor	2003–2011
	Chris Patterson	Liberal	2011–2019
	Peter Sidgreaves	Liberal	2019–2023
	Sally Quinnell	Labor	2023–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Camden

2023 New South Wales state election: Camden^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Sally Quinnell	21,945	40.6	+11.2
	Liberal	Peter Sidgreaves	19,686	36.4	−5.7
	One Nation	Garry Dollin	7,437	13.8	+0.4
	Greens	Emily Rivera	3,136	5.8	+1.7
	Sustainable Australia	Jessie Bijok	1,868	3.5	+2.2
Total formal votes			54,072	96.3	0.0
Informal votes			2,056	3.7	+0.0
Turnout			56,128	90.7	+3.8
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Sally Quinnell	25,060	53.0	+10.3
	Liberal	Peter Sidgreaves	22,222	47.0	−10.3
	Labor gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.3

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