Electoral district of North Shore

This article is about the New South Wales state electorate. For the New Zealand electorate, see North Shore (New Zealand electorate).

North Shore is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, located on Sydney's lower North Shore. It is currently held by Liberal MP Felicity Wilson.

North Shore New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of district boundaries from the 2023 state election
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1920–1927 1981–present
MP	Felicity Wilson
Party	Liberal
Namesake	North Shore
Electors	55,332 (2019)
Area	25.09 km2 (9.7 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner-metropolitan
Electorates around North Shore: Willoughby Willoughby Manly Lane Cove North Shore Vaucluse Balmain Sydney Vaucluse

History

North Shore was originally created as a five-member electorate with the introduction of proportional representation in 1920, replacing Middle Harbour, Mosman, St Leonards and Willoughby and named after the North Shore of Sydney Harbour. It was abolished in 1927 and replaced by Lane Cove, Manly, Mosman, Neutral Bay, North Sydney and Willoughby. It was recreated in 1981, replacing Kirribilli.

It was originally expected to be a very safe Liberal seat; northern Sydney has been the power base for the Liberals and their predecessors for over a century. However, it was held by independents from 1981 to 1991—most notably Ted Mack from 1981 to 1988. The Liberals did not take the seat until 1991, but have held it with virtually no difficulty since then.

While Labor frequently runs dead in northern Sydney, North Shore is very unfriendly territory for Labor even by northern Sydney standards. Labor has never tallied more than 37 percent of the two-party vote. In the last four elections, Labor candidates have been pushed into third place, and have struggled to get to 20 percent of the primary vote.

Geography

On its current boundaries, North Shore takes in the suburbs of Cremorne Point, Kirribilli, Kurraba Point, Lavender Bay, McMahons Point, Milsons Point, Mosman, Neutral Bay, North Sydney, Waverton, Wollstonecraft and parts of Crows Nest.

Members for North Shore

First incarnation (1920–1927)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Alfred Reid	Ind. Nationalist	1920–1922		Arthur Cocks	Nationalist	1920–1925		Reginald Weaver	Nationalist	1920–1925		Richard Arthur	Nationalist	1920–1927		Cecil Murphy	Labor	1920–1927
	William Fell	Independent Coalitionist	1922–1927				1925–1927
					Alfred Reid
									Alick Kay	Independent	1925–1926
									Arthur Tonge	Labor	1926–1927
Second incarnation (1981–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Ted Mack	Independent	1981–1988
	Robyn Read		1988–1991
	Phillip Smiles	Liberal	1991–1993
	Jillian Skinner		1994–2017
	Felicity Wilson		2017–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the district of North Shore

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly) § North Shore.[edit]

2023 New South Wales state election: North Shore

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Felicity Wilson	21,308	44.23	−2.37
	Independent	Helen Conway	10,527	21.85	+21.85
	Labor	Godfrey Santer	8,239	17.10	+4.75
	Greens	James Mullan	5,305	11.01	−0.28
	Independent	Victoria Walker	1,107	2.30	+2.30
	Sustainable Australia	Lachlan Commins	901	1.87	+0.49
	Informed Medical Options	Michael Antares	790	1.64	+1.64
Total formal votes			48,177	98.08	−0.44
Informal votes			945	1.92	+0.44
Turnout			49,122	87.03	−0.61
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Liberal	Felicity Wilson	24,208	58.22	−9.63
	Labor	Godfrey Santer	17,371	41.78	+9.63
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Liberal	Felicity Wilson	23,040	55.69	−5.44
	Independent	Helen Conway	18,329	44.31	+44.31
	Liberal hold