Chifley – Election 2010

ALP 19.7%

Incumbent MP
Roger Price, since 1984.

Geography
Western Sydney. Chifley covers western parts of the City of Blacktown. Chifley covers parts of the suburb of Blacktown and the neighbouring suburbs of Doonside, Mount Druitt, Rooty Hill, Marayong, Quakers Hill and  a number of other suburbs in the northwestern parts of Blacktown council area.

Redistribution
Chifley did not change a large amount. It lost parts of the centre of Blacktown to the neighbouring seat of Greenway. It’s southern border was extended as far south as the Western Motorway, gaining territory from Prospect. It also gained the sparsely-populated northwestern parts of Blacktown council from Greenway.

History
Chifley was created for the 1969 election, and has always been a safe seat for the ALP. The seat was first won in 1969 by the ALP’s John Armitage, who had previously held the neighbouring seat of Mitchell for one term from 1961 to 1963.

Armitage held the seat until his retirement at the 1983 election, when he was succeeded by Russell Gorman. Gorman transferred to the new seat of Greenway at the 1984 election, and Chifley was won by Deputy Mayor of Blacktown Roger Price. Gorman held Greenway until his retirement in 1996, while Price has been re-elected in Chifley at every election since 1984, becoming Chief Government Whip after the 2007 election.

Candidates

  • Debbie Robertson (Greens)
  • Terry Cooksley (Australia First)
  • Ed Husic (Labor)
  • Keith Darley (Democrats)
  • Dave Vincent (Christian Democratic Party)
  • Louise Kedwell (One Nation)
  • Venus Priest (Liberal)

Political situation
This seat is very safe for the ALP, and they will retain it in 2010.

2007 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Roger Price ALP 51,568 64.18 +10.12
Jess Diaz LIB 19,092 23.76 -6.62
John Forrester GRN 2,897 3.61 -1.66
Dave Vincent CDP 2,751 3.42 +1.21
Louise Kedwell ON 1,183 1.47 -0.53
James Cogan SEP 1,069 1.33 +1.33
Evan Jewell FF 1,016 1.26 -0.24
Wayne Hyland IND 484 0.60 -0.24
Amarjit Tanda IND 288 0.36 +0.36

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Roger Price ALP 56,776 70.66 +8.69
Jess Diaz LIB 23,572 29.34 -8.69

These results do not take into consideration the effects of the redistribution.

Booth breakdown
Chifley is entirely contained with Blacktown council area, so it is difficult to draw clear boundaries dividing parts of the seat. I have grouped booths into three areas: those around Blacktown and Doonside, those around Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill, and the remaining booths in the northwest parts of the seat.

The ALP won massive majorities in all parts of the seat. With the exception of one Liberal booth in the far north of the seat, the ALP won over 60% of the two-party preferred vote in all booths. The ALP won over 75% over the vote in the North-West, just short of 70% in the southwest and and about two-thirds of the vote in the eastern part of the seat.

Polling booths in Chifley. Blacktown-Doonside in blue, Mount Druitt-Rooty Hill in yellow, North-West in green.

Voter group GRN % ALP 2CP % Total votes % of ordinary votes
North-West 3.12 75.21 27,536 40.85
Blacktown-Doonside 4.23 66.61 25,983 38.55
Mount Druitt-Rooty Hill 3.31 69.88 13,889 20.60
Other votes 4.07 68.16 13,544

Results of the 2007 federal election in Chifley.