LIB 3.1%
Incumbent MP
John Alexander, since 2010.
Geography
Bennelong straddles the north shore and western suburbs of Sydney. The seat covers the entirety of Ryde local government area, as well as Epping, Carlingford and Ermington, from Hornsby and Parramatta council areas. Main suburbs in the seat are Ryde, Epping, Ermington, Eastwood and Gladesville.
History
Bennelong was created in 1949, and was held by only two MPs between then and the 2007 federal election. Bennelong originally covered Ryde, Hunters Hill and Lane Cove, but not areas such as Eastwood and Epping that are now contained within the seat.
Bennelong was first won by John Cramer (LIB) in 1949. Cramer served as Minister for the Army under Robert Menzies from 1956 to 1963. During his time holding Bennelong the seat was never a very safe seat, and in 1961 Cramer only held on by 1832 votes. His largest margin was 15.4% in 1966.
Cramer retired at the 1974 election and was succeeded by John Howard (LIB). Howard went on to serve as a minister under Malcolm Fraser, including as Treasurer from 1977 to 1983. He then served in a variety of roles on the opposition frontbench after 1983, including as two stints as Opposition Leader (1985-1989, 1995-1996). He was elected as Prime Minister in 1996 and served until 2007.
The seat of Bennelong had gradually shifted to the north-west over the decades, taking in Epping. The 1992 redistribution saw the last parts of Lane Cove removed from the seat, and Howard’s margin was cut in 1993. After recovering in 1996 to a margin over 10% it gradually declined to a 4.3% margin in 2004, when the Greens ran high-profile former intelligence officer Andrew Wilkie against Howard.
The 2006 redistribution saw Howard’s margin cut slightly and the ALP decided to target the seat, running former journalist Maxine McKew. McKew won the seat with 51.4% of the two-party vote.
In 2010, McKew was defeated by former tennis champion John Alexander.
Candidates
Sitting Liberal MP John Alexander will presumably be running for re-election. The Labor Party is running Ryde councillor Jeff Salvestro-Martin. The Greens are running Lindsay Peters. The Democratic Labor Party is running Lachlan McCaffrey.
Assessment
Bennelong is a marginal seat and certainly could change hands, but the seat has a long Liberal history and took a massive effort for Labor to win in 2007. The absence of McKew’s personal vote and Alexander’s new personal vote will also favour the Liberal Party.
2010 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| John Alexander | LIB | 41,582 | 48.53 | +3.04 |
| Maxine McKew | ALP | 31,803 | 37.12 | -8.21 |
| Lindsay Peters | GRN | 6,808 | 7.95 | +2.42 |
| Julie Worsley | CDP | 1,824 | 2.13 | +0.84 |
| Sue Raye | SXP | 1,105 | 1.29 | +1.29 |
| Victor Waterson | ON | 725 | 0.85 | +0.55 |
| Stephen Chavura | FF | 570 | 0.67 | +0.34 |
| Mary Mockler | CA | 478 | 0.56 | +0.56 |
| Terje Petersen | LDP | 344 | 0.40 | +0.30 |
| Bill Pounder | CSC | 275 | 0.32 | +0.32 |
| Martin Levine | BA | 170 | 0.20 | +0.20 |
2010 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| John Alexander | LIB | 45,518 | 53.12 | +4.52 |
| Maxine McKew | ALP | 40,166 | 46.88 | -4.52 |
Polling booths in Bennelong at the 2010 federal election. Epping in red, Eastwood in green, Gladesville in purple, Ryde in yellow, West Ryde in blue.
Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into five parts around the main suburbs of Bennelong: Eastwood, Epping, Gladesville, Ryde and West Ryde.
The Liberal Party won a majority in all five areas, varying from 50.3% in West Ryde to 56.4% in Gladesville.
| Voter group | GRN % | LIB 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Eastwood | 8.01 | 53.01 | 16,150 | 18.85 |
| Ryde | 6.98 | 53.52 | 15,425 | 18.00 |
| Epping | 8.49 | 52.99 | 14,883 | 17.37 |
| West Ryde | 7.91 | 50.32 | 12,308 | 14.36 |
| Gladesville | 7.98 | 56.44 | 8,996 | 10.50 |
| Other votes | 8.27 | 53.26 | 17,922 | 20.92 |
Two-party-preferred votes in Bennelong at the 2010 federal election.
I moved out of this electorate last month.
Alexander should win easily, but he doesn’t deserve to. I saw McKew a number of times in my part of the electorate, but I never saw Alexander there at all. I only noticed him once, ironically at a public transport forum prior to the NSW station election in 2011 – at that forum I asked NSW shadow minister Berejiklian a question about the cost to the economy of failing to expand public transport, which floored her, and Alexander was watching me. I have not seen him since.
In my opinion, Alexander is a waste of space. He’s got to go, but he won’t go, at least not while Labor is on the nose in NSW.
I live in this electorate and i disagree i have seen him around Eastwood but i never saw Maxine expect during the election when she was dancing around at granny smith but John wanted a seat in parlement he tried pre selection for Bradfield when Nelson resigned and lost then decided to come down here and run.
I’ve never had to deal with him but from what I have heard he is a good local member.
prob Lib retain….but I would have thought Mr Alexander wold have been a poorer candidate than John Howard to the tune of 3 to 5 %……..I was probably wrong!
The seat will now most likely go with the flow of an election
Mick, there will be a swing to the Liberals here and it will be one of safer seats in NSW. This is close to Liberal traditional heartland and Labor can only hope to win it when the Liberal Party is severly on the nose.
db: this is not Liberal heartland……but an area that can swing massively depending on the climate Labor under the right circumstances can win by 5 % and in very bad circs for labor
the libs can have a 10% margin…….Putney and I think Epping are the only guaranteed lib
voting subburbs
I didn’t say it was. I said it was next to it. Hockey’s seat is right next to it. Labor can only hope to win this seat in landslides.
The DLP Candidate for Bennelong is Lachlan McCaffery .
His Father Simon is also the NSW lead Senate Candidate and stood in the 2010 election.
http://www.dlp.org.au/candidate-for-bennelong-lachlan-mccaffrey/