| Gilmore AustralianHouse of RepresentativesDivision | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Interactive map of electorate boundaries from the2025 federal election | |||||||||||||||
| Created | 1984 | ||||||||||||||
| MP | Fiona Phillips | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Labor | ||||||||||||||
| Namesake | Dame Mary Gilmore | ||||||||||||||
| Electors | 129,095 (2025) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 6,322 km2 (2,440.9 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Demographic | Rural | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
TheDivision of Gilmore is anAustralian electoral division in thestate ofNew South Wales. It lies on theSouth Coast betweenKiama andMoruya.
The Division of Gilmore was created in 1984 when theHouse of Representatives was expanded, and was named afterDame Mary Gilmore, the poet and author. The seat was first won byJohn Sharp of theNational Party. The electorate originally included the areas ofGoulburn andSouthern Highlands, but following a redistribution the seat moved to its current boundaries along theNew South Wales South Coast. As a consequence, Sharp moved to the nearby seat ofHume in 1993. He was in theFirst Howard Ministry until he resigned in 1997 due to the "travel rorts affair".[citation needed]
The seat was won by theALP'sPeter Knott in 1993, but he was defeated at the1996 election byJoanna Gash of theLiberal Party. The seat was considered marginal after the 1996 and 1998 elections, but a big swing in 2001 saw Gash hold the seat by a much larger margin. That was cut back to a margin of about 4 points in 2007.
Gilmore's boundaries were redrawn before the2010 election, making the seat a notional Labor one, but Gash gained a 5.7-point swing. She announced her retirement in 2012, and was later electedMayor of Shoalhaven.
At the2013 federal election, Gash was succeeded by Liberal candidateAnn Sudmalis, who won despite a 2.7-point swing to Labor. Sudmalis suffered a further 3-point swing in the2016 election, but narrowly won a second term by only 1,503 of thetwo-party-preferred vote.[1] On 17 September 2018 Sudmalis announced that she would not contest the forthcoming election, blaming what she called ego-driven bullying, betrayal, and backstabbing byGareth Ward, a Liberal member of state parliament for an electorate that overlaps hers.[2]
On 22 January 2019 prime ministerScott Morrison announced thatWarren Mundine would be the Liberal Party's candidate for the seat in the2019 election, after Mundine joined the party that same day.[3][4][5][6] Mundine, and former Liberal party member Grant Schultz, who ran as anindependent, were defeated by the ALP'sFiona Phillips. She won the seat at the2022 election by 379 votes and retained it in 2025 with an increased margin.
The division is located in theShoalhaven and the southernIllawarra regions. It covers all of theKiama andShoalhaven local government areas, and the northern and central parts of theEurobodalla. The most northerly part of the electorate isMinnamurra and the northern outskirts ofTuross Head. The western boundary includes much of theBudawang andMorton National Parks.
Towns and suburbs includesNowra, Minnamurra,Kiama,Gerringong,Berry,Kangaroo Valley,Bomaderry,Worrigee,Greenwell Point,Culburra Beach,Callala Bay,Sussex Inlet,Milton,Ulladulla,Batemans Bay andMoruya.
Since 1984 federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by theAustralian 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.[7]
| Image | Member | Party | Term | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | John Sharp (1954–) | Nationals | 1 December 1984 – 13 March 1993 | Transferred to the Division ofHume | |
 | Peter Knott (1956–2015) | Labor | 13 March 1993 – 2 March 1996 | Lost seat | |
 | Joanna Gash (1944–) | Liberal | 2 March 1996 – 5 August 2013 | Retired | |
| Ann Sudmalis (1955–) | 7 September 2013 – 11 April 2019 | Retired | ||
 | Fiona Phillips (1970–) | Labor | 18 May 2019 – present | Incumbent | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Fiona Phillips | 42,342 | 38.13 | +2.19 | |
| Liberal | Andrew Constance | 38,247 | 34.44 | −7.56 | |
| Independent | Kate Dezarnaulds | 8,371 | 7.54 | +7.54 | |
| Greens | Debbie Killian | 7,932 | 7.14 | −3.09 | |
| One Nation | John Hawke | 5,557 | 5.00 | +1.00 | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Adrian Carle | 4,124 | 3.71 | +3.71 | |
| Trumpet of Patriots | Melissa Wise | 2,476 | 2.23 | +2.23 | |
| Family First | Graham Brown | 2,004 | 1.80 | +1.80 | |
| Total formal votes | 111,053 | 93.10 | −2.47 | ||
| Informal votes | 8,225 | 6.90 | +2.47 | ||
| Turnout | 119,278 | 92.47 | +1.81 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Fiona Phillips | 61,223 | 55.13 | +4.96 | |
| Liberal | Andrew Constance | 49,830 | 44.87 | −4.96 | |
| Laborhold | Swing | +4.96 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Andrew Constance | 46,941 | 42.02 | +12.83 | |
| Labor | Fiona Phillips | 40,175 | 35.97 | −0.22 | |
| Greens | Carmel McCallum | 11,417 | 10.22 | +0.25 | |
| Independent | Nina Digiglio | 4,721 | 4.23 | +4.23 | |
| One Nation | Jerremy Eid | 4,453 | 3.99 | +3.99 | |
| United Australia | Jordan Maloney | 3,108 | 2.78 | −0.60 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Adrian Fadini | 890 | 0.80 | +0.80 | |
| Total formal votes | 111,705 | 95.58 | +0.83 | ||
| Informal votes | 5,170 | 4.42 | −0.83 | ||
| Turnout | 116,875 | 91.59 | −1.29 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Fiona Phillips | 56,039 | 50.17 | −2.44 | |
| Liberal | Andrew Constance | 55,666 | 49.83 | +2.44 | |
| Laborhold | Swing | −2.44 | |||
Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.35°04′01″S150°23′53″E / 35.067°S 150.398°E /-35.067; 150.398