Electoral district of Ku-ring-gai

Ku-ring-gai is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. Since 2015 it has been represented by Alister Henskens of the Liberal Party. The electorate covers the suburbs and parts of the suburbs of Gordon, Hornsby, Killara, Lindfield, Normanhurst, North Turramurra, North Wahroonga, Pymble, South Turramurra, Thornleigh, Turramurra, Wahroonga, Waitara, Warrawee and West Pymble.[1]

Ku-ring-gai New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Location within Sydney
State	New South Wales
Created	1973
MP	Alister Henskens
Party	Liberal Party
Namesake	Kuringgai
Electors	54,441 (2019)
Area	52.45 km^2 (20.3 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban
Electorates around Ku-ring-gai: Hornsby Hornsby Pittwater Epping Ku-ring-gai Davidson Ryde Lane Cove Willougby

History

Ku-ring-gai was created before the 1973 election and was held by John Maddison, a minister in the government of Askin, whop had previously been the member for Hornsby. Maddison retired in 1980 and future Premiers of New South Wales Nick Greiner won the seat at a by-election. He held the seat until resigning from Parliament and as Premier in 1992 in the aftermath of the ICAC enquiry into the Metherell affair. He was succeeded by Stephen O'Doherty, who in 1999 chose to follow the majority of his constituents into the re-created seat of Hornsby. Barry O'Farrell transferred to Ku-ring-gai in 1999 after his seat of Northcott was abolished, and held it when he became Premier after leading the Coalition to a massive landslide victory in the 2011 state election. He resigned as premier in 2014 and retired from politics after the 2015 state election, handing the seat to current member Henskens.

Located in the Liberal heartland of the North Shore, Ku-ring-gai has been in Liberal hands for its entire existence, and for much of that time has been an ultra-safe seat even by North Shore standards. The Liberals have never tallied less than 65 percent of the two-party vote, and have always taken the seat on the first count with no need for preferences. At the 2011 election, for instance, O'Farrell was reelected with 81.3% of the two-candidate-preferred vote, making Ku-ring-gai the safest seat in the entire NSW parliament.

While Labor frequently runs dead in north Sydney, Ku-ring-gai is particularly hostile territory for Labor. Since the 1990s, Labor has usually been lucky to get 20 percent of the primary vote. In 2011, for example, Labor was pushed into third place behind the Greens. The seat is almost entirely within the equally safe federal seat of Bradfield, often one of the safest federal Liberal seats in the country.[2]

Ku-ring-gai is one of three current electorates in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly to have been held by two Premiers of New South Wales while in office. Both Premiers Greiner and O'Farrell held Ku-ring-gai while in office. The other two electorates being Wollondilly and Maroubra.

Members for Ku-ring-gai

Member		Party	Period
	John Maddison [3]	Liberal	1973–1980
	Nick Greiner [4]	Liberal	1980–1992
	Stephen O'Doherty [5]	Liberal	1992–1999
	Barry O'Farrell [6]	Liberal	1999–2015
	Alister Henskens [7]	Liberal	2015–present

Election results

2019 New South Wales state election: Ku-ring-gai [8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alister Henskens	29,369	60.27	−2.27
	Labor	Amanda Keeling	8,891	18.25	+1.88
	Greens	Qiu Yue (Viki) Zhang	6,315	12.96	−2.83
	Sustainable Australia	Mark Ferris	1,636	3.36	+3.36
	Keep Sydney Open	Liam Blood	1,466	3.01	+3.01
	Liberal Democrats	Mitchell Strahan	1,053	2.16	+2.16
Total formal votes			48,730	97.79	+0.18
Informal votes			1,101	2.21	−0.18
Turnout			49,831	91.53	−1.22
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Alister Henskens	31,027	70.52	−2.46
	Labor	Amanda Keeling	12,969	29.48	+2.46
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.46

References

1. "Ku-ring-gai". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
2. "(A bit late but a) Post-2016 Federal Election Pendulum plus Results Summary". ABC News. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
3. "The Hon. John Clarkson Maddison (1921-1982)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
4. "Mr (Nick) Nicholas Frank Hugo Greiner". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
5. "Mr Stephen Mark O'Doherty (1959- )". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
6. "The Hon. Barry Robert O'Farrell". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
7. "Mr Alister Andrew Henskens, SC MP". Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
8. "Ku-ring-gai: First Preference Votes". 2019 NSW election results. NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
9. "Ku-ring-gai: Distribution of Preferences". 2019 NSW election results. NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 September 2019.