ALP 8.3%
Incumbent MP
Stephen Jones, since 2016. Previously member for Throsby 2010-2016.
Geography
Southern Illawarra and Southern Highlands of NSW. Whitlam covers the entirety of the Shellharbour council area along with southern parts of the City of Wollongong. These suburbs mostly surround Lake Illawarra, including Shellharbour, Dapto and Albion Park. It also covers the entire Wingecarribee council area in the Southern Highlands, including Bowral, Moss Vale and Mittagong.
Redistribution
Whitlam expanded to the west, taking in the remainder of the Southern Highlands including Exeter and Bundanoon. Whitlam lost the southern Wollongong suburbs of Berkeley, Cringila, Korongulla and Windang. These changes cut the Labor margin from 10.1% to 8.3%.
History
The seat of Whitlam was known as Throsby until 2016. Throsby was first created for the 1984 election, and has always been held by the ALP. It has always been won by the ALP by a large margin.
The seat was first won in 1984 by Colin Hollis. Hollis had previously been elected in Macarthur for one term in 1983. Hollis retired in 2001, and was succeeded by former ACTU President Jennie George. George held the seat from 2001 to 2010.
In 2010, Stephen Jones won the seat for the ALP upon Jennie George’s retirement. Jones has been re-elected four times.
Candidates
Sitting Labor MP Stephen Jones is not running for re-election.
Assessment
Whitlam is a reasonably safe Labor seat, alhough the redistribution slightly weakened Labor’s position.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Stephen Jones | Labor | 49,218 | 45.0 | -3.8 | 42.4 |
| Mike Cains | Liberal | 30,849 | 28.2 | +2.8 | 29.8 |
| Jamie Dixon | Greens | 11,779 | 10.8 | +1.6 | 10.4 |
| Colin Hughes | One Nation | 7,543 | 6.9 | +6.9 | 6.9 |
| Allan Wode | United Australia | 5,886 | 5.4 | -3.5 | 5.2 |
| Michael Wheeler | Liberal Democrats | 4,062 | 3.7 | +3.7 | 3.5 |
| Independent | 1.5 | ||||
| Others | 0.3 | ||||
| Informal | 5,637 | 4.9 | -2.4 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Stephen Jones | Labor | 65,683 | 60.1 | -0.8 | 58.3 |
| Mike Cains | Liberal | 43,654 | 39.9 | +0.8 | 41.7 |
Booths have been divided into three areas, along local government boundaries.
The ALP won large majorities of the two-party-preferred vote in Shellharbour (63.8%) and Wollongong (66.6%). The Liberal Party won 50.2% in Southern Highlands.
The Greens primary vote ranged from 11.1% in the Southern Highlands to 12.8% in Wollongong.
| Voter group | GRN prim | ALP 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| Shellharbour | 11.7 | 63.8 | 21,030 | 19.5 |
| Southern Highlands | 11.1 | 49.8 | 15,870 | 14.7 |
| Wollongong | 12.8 | 66.6 | 8,967 | 8.3 |
| Pre-poll | 9.1 | 57.5 | 50,720 | 47.0 |
| Other votes | 11.2 | 57.3 | 11,388 | 10.5 |
Election results in Whitlam at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.
@John if anyone is going to recruit Paddy it will be nationals as he has more skin there. Not saying they will or he will. The Liberal branches don’t exist because Gareth Ward, the world’s longest on bail charged sex offender politician walked out of the Liberals & took his team with him.
What there was left of the liberal branches walked out with Britton too.
Whether Carol Berry “cuts the mustard” remains to be seen and she’ll have 3 years to prove to the people of Whitlam whether shes worth another look in or not. The only real policies I’ve seen being pushed from Carols campaign are an echo of the national policies, with very little mention of the local issues. We have a new hospital being built, how about some help to get more direct access to the motorway for it. We have an airport that is underutilised, could federal provide some funding to help make the south coast a thriving regional hub. We need a pretty significant (and costly) connection to complete the Tripoli Way project in Albion Park, Labor have been splashing cash around other parts of the electorate, not us however because we are the safe section of Labors Whitlam voters. We have a marina that we are pushing to boost our tourism profile in the region, would federal like to step in and help us boost it?
National policies and agendas to help families across the nation are wonderful and all, but if those are the only focus points to put your name to, you could nominate any Labor branch member in the running for Whitlam and they will win. In 3 years time people will be asking the same question they are thinking of when it comes to Stephen Jones tenure at this election, and the reason why the vote is swinging further away from Labor as younger voters who like to question things ask, “what have they actually done for our electorate that isn’t just a national policy?”