From Thomson to Tink, the North Sydney electorate has a colourful past
The clock is ticking for one of Australia’s oldest federal electoral divisions. North Sydney may be abolished before the next federal election which must occur on or before 27 September, 2025.
The seat has existed for as long as the Australian Commonwealth itself, since 1901. During those 123 years, it has had just 11 representatives. Stability, then, has been a characteristic of the electorate and a moderate conservatism has motivated its constituents. North Sydney has never been held by the Labor Party. In the years before the formation of the modern Liberal Party in 1944, its representatives came from the United Australia Party, the Nationalist Party and the free trade side of politics.
The first of those was Dugald Thomson, who lived in a splendid marine villa at Kirribilli he called ‘Wyreepi.’ It was close to the dwelling that became known as Kirribilli House, in appearance and location. There was a large private bathing enclosure at the end of the garden where Thomson could cool off. The house survives today, as ‘Sunnyside,’ but the enclosure has gone.
William ‘Billy’ Hughes was North Sydney’s longest serving representative and the most changeable in his political allegiances. Hughes had left the Labor Party because of his support for conscription during World War I. The Nationalist Party emerged out of that split. During his tenure from 1922 to 1949, Hughes was a Nationalist, a member of the United Australia Party, the Liberal Party and an independent.
The Liberals held the seat throughout the post-war years from the 1940s to 1990, when another independent was elected as representative. Ted Mack had been the North Sydney mayor and the member for the local state seat of North Shore throughout the 1980s. Mack remains the only person to have represented the area in all three tiers of government.
Though his politics might best be described as progressive, and he was known as the ‘father of the independents’ – there were several other unaligned politicians at the time – Mack’s retirement in 1996 resulted in North Sydney returning to the Liberal Party in a big win. Joe Hockey held it comfortably until he retired in 2015. Another Liberal, Trent Zimmerman held it until 2022.
North Sydney was, then, a safe Liberal seat in 2022 when Zimmerman and several other Liberals were successfully challenged by a new wave of independent politicians called ‘Teals’. The term derives from the colour created by the merging of blue – the iconic colour of Australian Liberalism – and green. The latter reflects concerns about the impact of climate change in mainstream politics after the denial of those effects by mainstream Liberal and National Party leadership over the preceding decade.
Independent Kylea Tink won the seat from Zimmerman in a huge swing away from the Liberals. She joined a cross bench bolstered by public concern over the environment. Zali Steggall, who pioneered the Teal movement when she defeated Liberal Party elder Tony Abbott in the neighbouring seat of Warringah in 2019, would gain most voters in the North Sydney electorate if the abolition proceeds.
Historical Services, North Sydney Council