Electoral district of Willoughby

Willoughby is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It has been represented by Tim James of the Liberal Party since 12 February 2022.

Willoughby New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1894–1920 1927–1988 1991–present
MP	Tim James
Party	Liberal
Namesake	Willoughby
Electors	60,285 (2023)
Area	23.56 km2 (9.1 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner-metropolitan
Electorates around Willoughby: Davidson Wakehurst Willoughby Manly Lane Cove §§§ North Shore]

History

Willoughby was an electoral district of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, first created in 1894 with the abolition of multi-member electoral districts from part of St Leonards, and named after and including the Sydney suburb of Willoughby. It was abolished in 1904 and re-established in 1913. In 1920 with the introduction of proportional representation, it was absorbed into the multi-member electorate of Ryde along with Burwood and Gordon. It was recreated in 1927 with the return to single-member electorates. It was abolished in 1988, with most of its territory becoming Middle Harbour. In 1991, Middle Harbour was abolished and replaced by a recreated Willoughby.^[1][2][3][4]

Like most seats in the North Shore, Willoughby is a stronghold for the Liberal Party. Counting its time as Middle Harbour, the Liberals or their predecessors have held the seat for all but two terms since the return to single-member seats in 1927. The one break in this tradition came in the "Wranslide" of 1978, when a split in the Liberal vote allowed Labor's Eddie Britt to sweep into office. However, a redistribution ahead of the 1981 election erased Britt's majority and made Willoughby notionally Liberal. Britt narrowly lost to future state opposition leader Peter Collins even in the face of the second "Wranslide."^[2]

The seat reverted to form in 1984, with Collins easily seeing off Britt in a rematch. Since then, Labor has usually run dead in Willoughby, and on some occasions has been pushed into third place. The only time the Liberal hold on the seat has been seriously threatened since the 1980s came on Collins' retirement in 2003. Pat Reilly, the longtime mayor of the City of Willoughby, ran as an independent and nearly defeated Liberal Gladys Berejiklian on Labor preferences. The swing against the Liberals was large enough to drop the Liberal margin over Labor to 7.2 percent, the closest in two decades. However, Berejiklian easily dispatched Reilly in a rematch and has held the seat without serious difficulty ever since.^[2]

Willoughby is one of four electorates in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly to have been held by two Premiers of New South Wales while in office. Both Premiers (Sir) Charles Wade and Gladys Berejiklian held Willoughby while in office, the other three electorates being Ku-ring-gai, Maroubra and Wollondilly.

Berejiklian has facts in common with her predecessor in Willoughby, Collins in that both had served as state Liberal leaders and prior to that served as Deputy Liberal leader and Treasurer although unlike Collins, Berejiklian held the positions of Deputy Liberal leader and Treasurer simultaneously.

Geography

On its current boundaries, Willoughby takes in the suburbs of Cammeray, Castle Cove, Castlecrag, Chatswood, Chatswood West, Cremorne, Middle Cove, Northbridge, North Willoughby, Willoughby, Willoughby East and parts of Artarmon, Crows Nest, Lane Cove North and St Leonards.

Members for Willoughby

First incarnation (1894–1904)
Member		Party	Term
	Joseph Cullen	Free Trade	1894–1894
	Edward Clark	Free Trade	1894–1895
	George Howarth	Free Trade	1895–1901
		Liberal Reform	1901–1903
	Charles Wade	Liberal Reform	1903–1904
Second incarnation (1913–1920)
Member		Party	Term
	Edward Larkin	Labor	1913–1915
	John Haynes	Independent Democrat	1915–1917
	Reginald Weaver	Nationalist	1917–1920
Third incarnation (1927–1988)
Member		Party	Term
	Edward Sanders	Independent Nationalist	1927–1930
		Nationalist	1930–1932
		United Australia	1932–1943
	George Brain	United Australia	1943–1943
		Democratic	1944–1945
		Liberal	1945–1968
	Laurie McGinty	Liberal	1968–1977
		Independent Liberal	1977–1978
	Eddie Britt	Labor	1978–1981
	Peter Collins	Liberal	1981–1988
Fourth incarnation (1991–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Peter Collins	Liberal	1991–2003
	Gladys Berejiklian	Liberal	2003–2021
	Tim James	Liberal	2022–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Willoughby

2023 New South Wales state election: Willoughby^[5][6][7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Tim James	23,032	43.6	−13.4
	Independent	Larissa Penn	14,064	26.6	+17.6
	Labor	Sarah Griffin	10,577	20.0	+5.3
	Greens	Edmund McGrath	4,190	7.9	−3.4
	Sustainable Australia	Michael Want	967	1.8	+0.1
Total formal votes			52,830	98.1	+0.1
Informal votes			1,014	1.9	−0.1
Turnout			53,844	89.3	+0.0
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Liberal	Tim James	26,152	55.9	−14.8
	Labor	Sarah Griffin	20,665	44.1	+14.8
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Liberal	Tim James	24,727	52.6	−21.0
	Independent	Larissa Penn	22,277	47.4	+21.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	−21.0

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