Division of Warringah

{{About|the Australian electoral division|other uses of the name|Warringah (disambiguation){{!}}Warringah}}

{{Infobox Australian Electorate

| federal = yes

| name = Warringah

| image = {{switcher

|{{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|from=Australian Federal Electorates/New South Wales (2016)/Warringah.map|frame-height=300|frame-width=400|overlay-horizontal-alignment=right|overlay-vertical-alignment=bottom|overlay=x100px

}}

|From the 2016 federal election to 2025

|{{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|from=Australian Federal Electorates/New South Wales (2025)/Warringah.map|frame-height=300|frame-width=400|overlay-horizontal-alignment=right|overlay-vertical-alignment=bottom|overlay=x100px

}}

|From the 2025 federal election

|default=2

}}

| caption = Interactive map of electorate boundaries

| created = 1922

| mp = Zali Steggall

| mp-party = Independent

| namesake = Warringah

| electors = 126,914

| electors_year = 2025

| area = 51

| class = Inner metropolitan

|near-nw = Bradfield

|near-n = Mackellar

|near-ne = Tasman Sea

|near-e = Tasman Sea

|near-se = Wentworth

|near-s = Wentworth

|near-sw = Sydney

|near-w = Bennelong

|footnotes = {{reflist|group=nb}}

}}

The Division of Warringah ({{IPAc-en|w|ə|r|ɪ|ŋ|g|ə}} {{respell|wə|RING|gə}}) is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. It is on the north shore of Port Jackson and the Tasman Sea coast, stretching from Wollstonecraft to Curl Curl, comprising North Sydney and Manly.

Since 2019 its MP has been Zali Steggall, an Independent.

Geography

Centred on Mosman and the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, it covers most of the land between Middle Harbour and the Tasman Sea. It extends from Port Jackson in the south to the suburb of Curl Curl in the north.

Warringah includes the suburbs of Allambie, Allambie Heights, Balgowlah, Balgowlah Heights, Balmoral, Beauty Point, Brookvale, Cammeray, Clifton Gardens, Clontarf, Cremorne, Cremorne Point, Crows Nest, Curl Curl, Fairlight, Freshwater, Kirribilli, Kurraba Point, Lavender Bay Manly, Manly Vale, McMahons Point, Milsons Point, Mosman, Neutral Bay, North Balgowlah, North Head, North Manly, North Sydney, Queenscliff, Seaforth, Wingala, Waverton and Wollstonecraft, as well as parts of Beacon Hill, Frenchs Forest and Narraweena.{{cite web |url=http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/w/Warringah.htm |title=Profile of the electoral division of Warringah (NSW) |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |access-date=7 June 2025 |archive-date=28 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328203113/https://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/nsw/warringah.htm |url-status=live }}

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.{{cite web |last1=Muller |first1=Damon |title=The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/FederalRedistributions |website=Parliament of Australia |access-date=19 April 2022 |date=14 November 2017 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523135724/https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/FederalRedistributions |url-status=live }}

History

The division is named after the Warringah area of Sydney, which itself is named by an Aboriginal Australian word which translates into English as "rain", "waves" or "sea". The Division was proclaimed at the redistribution of 13 September 1922, and was first contested at the 1922 federal election. Most of its territory had been part of North Sydney from 1901 to 1922. The word "Warrin ga" was recorded as the local name for Middle Harbour in 1832.{{Cite web|last=Larmer|first=James|title='Larmer's Vocabulary of Native Names. 1853' by James Larmer, 1832-1853 {{!}} Indigenous Languages|url=https://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/collection-items/larmers-vocabulary-native-names-1853-james-larmer-1832-1853-3#&gid=1&pid=31|access-date=2020-08-03|website=indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au|page=31|archive-date=13 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813054545/https://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/collection-items/larmers-vocabulary-native-names-1853-james-larmer-1832-1853-3#&gid=1&pid=31|url-status=live}}

The electorate originally extended from Mosman to Pittwater.{{cite web|url=https://northernbeaches.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/50045|title=Commonwealth electoral division of Warringah 1934|publisher=Commonwealth Electoral Office Sydney|via=Northern Beaches Council Library|date=1934|access-date=7 June 2025}} In 1949, it lost most of its territory in the north to the new Division of Mackellar. In 2025, it acquired an area around North Sydney from the abolished division of North Sydney.{{cite web|url=https://www.aec.gov.au/redistributions/2023/nsw/proposed-redistribution/maps/comparison/2024-AEC-NSW-Composite-Sydney-Metro-Proposed%20(A4819879).pdf|title=Map of proposed distribution for various Sydney divisions|publisher=Australian Electoral Commission|date=August 2024|access-date=7 June 2025}}

Before 2019, the area covered by Warringah had been held by a conservative party without interruption since Federation. The Liberal Party of Australia and their predecessors held the seat without interruption from its creation until the 2019 federal election when Zali Steggall won the seat as an Independent.{{cite web |title=Warringah (Key Seat) |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/guide/warr |first=Antony |last=Green |author-link=Antony Green |work=Australia votes |publisher=ABC News |access-date=19 May 2019 |archive-date=18 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518211613/https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2019/guide/warr |url-status=live }} Even by northern Sydney standards, Warringah has been especially unfriendly territory for Labor. For example, even in its 1943 landslide, Labor was only able to garner 39 percent of the two-party vote in Warringah.

The seat's most notable member was Tony Abbott, who won the seat at a 1994 by-election and served as Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He retained Warringah until being defeated by Steggall in 2019.{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Lilian |date=2019 |title=Uncommon victories: Lessons from Warringah and Indi |url=https://commonslibrary.org/uncommon-victories-lessons-from-warringah-and-indi/ |website=Commons Social Change Library |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601130605/https://commonslibrary.org/uncommon-victories-lessons-from-warringah-and-indi/ |url-status=live }} That election also saw Warringah become a notional marginal seat in a "traditional" two-party contest against Labor for the first time; Abbott would have held the seat on 52.1 percent against Labor, down from 61 percent in 2016. At the 2025 landslide, Labor won the two-party vote in Warringah.

Members

class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
colspan=2 \| Image ! Member ! Party ! Term ! Notes
{{Australian party style\|Nationalist}}\| \| 100px \| Sir Granville Ryrie {{small\|(1865–1937)}} \| rowspan="2" \| Nationalist \| nowrap \| 16 December 1922 – 13 April 1927 \| Previously held the Division of North Sydney. Resigned to become the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
{{Australian party style\|Nationalist}}\| \| rowspan=2 \| 100px \| rowspan=2 \| Sir Archdale Parkhill {{small\|(1878–1947)}} \| nowrap \| 21 May 1927 – 7 May 1931 \| rowspan=2 \| Served as minister under Lyons. Lost seat
{{Australian party style\|UAP}}\| \| nowrap \| United Australia \| nowrap \| 7 May 1931 – 23 October 1937
{{Australian party style\|Independent UAP}}\| \| rowspan=4 \| 100px \| rowspan=4 \| Percy Spender {{small\|(1897–1985)}} \| Independent United Australia \| nowrap \| 23 October 1937 – 20 October 1938 \| rowspan=4 \| Served as minister under Menzies and Fadden. Retired
{{Australian party style\|UAP}}\| \| nowrap \| United Australia \| nowrap \| 20 October 1938 – 23 February 1944
{{Australian party style\|Independent}}\| \| nowrap \| Independent \| nowrap \| 23 February 1944 – 13 September 1945
{{Australian party style\|Liberal}}\| \| rowspan="4" \| Liberal \| nowrap \| 13 September 1945 – 28 April 1951
{{Australian party style\|Liberal}}\| \| 100px \| Francis Bland {{small\|(1882–1967)}} \| nowrap \| 28 April 1951 – 2 November 1961 \| Retired
{{Australian party style\|Liberal}}\| \| 100px \| John Cockle {{small\|(1908–1966)}} \| nowrap \| 9 December 1961 – 3 August 1966 \| Died in office
{{Australian party style\|Liberal}}\| \| rowspan=2 \| 100px \| rowspan=2 \| Edward St John {{small\|(1916–1994)}} \| nowrap \| 26 November 1966 – 28 March 1969 \| rowspan=2 \| Lost seat
{{Australian party style\|Independent}}\| \| nowrap \| Independent \| nowrap \| 28 March 1969 – 25 October 1969
{{Australian party style\|Liberal}}\| \| 100px \| Michael MacKellar {{small\|(1938–2015)}} \| rowspan="2" \| Liberal \| nowrap \| 25 October 1969 – 18 February 1994 \| Served as minister under Fraser. Resigned to retire from politics
{{Australian party style\|Liberal}}\| \| 100px \| Tony Abbott {{small\|(1957–)}} \| nowrap \| 26 March 1994 – 18 May 2019 \| Served as minister under Howard. Served as Opposition Leader from 2009 to 2013. Served as Prime Minister from 2013 to 2015. Lost seat
{{Australian party style\|Independent}}\| \| {{CSS image crop\|Image = Zali Steggall official campaign image.jpg\|bSize = 130\|cWidth = 100\|cHeight = 130\|oLeft = 18\|Location = center}} \| Zali Steggall {{small\|(1974–)}} \| Independent \| nowrap \| 18 May 2019 – present \| Incumbent

class=wikitable style="text-align:center"

colspan=2 | Image

! Member

! Party

! Term

! Notes

{{Australian party style|Nationalist}}|

| 100px

| Sir Granville Ryrie
{{small|(1865–1937)}}

| rowspan="2" | Nationalist

| nowrap | 16 December 1922 –
13 April 1927

| Previously held the Division of North Sydney. Resigned to become the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom