Bennelong — Australian Federal Election Results

Compiled by EveryElectionResult.com's data team · Last updated 2026-08-30

Bennelong was won by John Alexander (Liberal) at the 2019 federal election, with a margin of 13,313 votes over None after preferences. This page covers every federal election in Bennelong from 1949 to 2019.

Australia uses instant-runoff (preferential) voting: voters rank candidates in order of preference, and if no one has a majority of first-preference votes, the lowest-placed candidate is eliminated and their votes redistributed to voters' next preference, repeating until one candidate has a majority. The "Winner" and "Margin" below reflect the final result after preferences (equivalent to the AEC's own two-candidate-preferred figure) — not simply whoever led on first preferences, which can occasionally be a different candidate.

Full Election History (After Preferences), 1949–2019

Election	Winner	Party	Final Votes	Final Share	Runner-up	Margin
1949	John Cramer	Liberal	23,568	59.6%	Raymond Watt (Labor)	7,616 (19.3 pts)
1951	John Cramer	Liberal	24,732	61.0%	William Fitzgibbon (Labor)	8,892 (21.9 pts)
1954	John Cramer	Liberal	24,338	57.1%	Thomas Campbell (Labor)	6,075 (14.3 pts)
1955	John Cramer	Liberal	25,628	60.7%	Harold Coates (Labor)	9,021 (21.4 pts)
1958	John Cramer	Liberal	25,518	57.4%	Harold Coates (Labor)	6,577 (14.8 pts)
1961	John Cramer	Liberal	25,745	50.8%	Harry Jensen (Labor)	832 (1.6 pts)
1963	John Cramer	Liberal	29,947	60.6%	William Baird (Labor)	10,485 (21.2 pts)
1966	John Cramer	Liberal	31,239	67.6%	Geoffrey O'donnell (Labor)	16,252 (35.2 pts)
1969	John Cramer	Liberal	27,773	56.6%	Peter Evatt (Labor)	6,502 (13.3 pts)
1972	John Cramer	Liberal	30,879	52.4%	Norman Russell (Labor)	2,798 (4.7 pts)
1974	John Howard	Liberal	32,700	55.2%	Richard Hall (Labor)	6,119 (10.3 pts)
1975	John Howard	Liberal	39,867	63.1%	Noel Welsman (Labor)	16,548 (26.2 pts)
1977	John Howard	Liberal	37,080	65.2%	Noel Welsman (Labor)	17,286 (30.4 pts)
1980	John Howard	Liberal	36,075	59.8%	John Guthrie (Labor)	11,813 (19.6 pts)
1983	John Howard	Liberal	33,721	58.6%	Donald Vickers (Labor)	9,922 (17.2 pts)
1984	John Howard	Liberal	36,528	58.5%	Margaret Duckett (Labor)	10,612 (17.0 pts)
1987	John Howard	Liberal	38,601	60.6%	Beverley Sharpe (Labor)	13,521 (21.2 pts)
1990	John Howard	Liberal	38,574	60.3%	Martin Claridge (Labor)	13,211 (20.7 pts)
1993	John Howard	Liberal	39,341	53.2%	Monique Rotik (Labor)	4,712 (6.4 pts)
1996	John Howard	Liberal	45,128	60.1%	Wendy Mahon (Labor)	15,210 (20.3 pts)
1998	John Howard	Liberal	42,075	56.0%	Wendy Mahon (Labor)	8,972 (11.9 pts)
2004	John Howard	Liberal	39,968	63.8%	Nicole Campbell (Labor)	17,275 (27.6 pts)
2007	Maxine Mckew	Labor	44,685	51.4%	John Howard (Liberal)	2,434 (2.8 pts)
2010	John Alexander	Liberal	45,518	53.1%	Maxine Mckew (Labor)	5,352 (6.2 pts)
2013	John Alexander	Liberal	51,139	57.8%	Jason Yat-Sen Li (Labor)	13,756 (15.5 pts)
2016	John Alexander	Liberal	55,077	59.7%	Lyndal Howison (Labor)	17,923 (19.4 pts)
2019	John Alexander	Liberal	54,809	56.9%	None (Independent)	13,313 (13.8 pts)

First-Preference Result by Election

Every candidate's first-preference votes, before any preference redistribution.

1949

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	23,568	59.6%
Raymond Watt	Labor	15,952	40.4%

1951

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	24,732	61.0%
William Fitzgibbon	Labor	15,840	39.0%

1954

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	24,338	57.1%
Thomas Campbell	Labor	18,263	42.9%

1955

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	25,628	60.7%
Harold Coates	Labor	16,607	39.3%

1958

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	25,518	54.7%
Harold Coates	Labor	18,941	40.6%
Roderick Gray	Democratic Labor Party	1,702	3.6%
Patrick Rossiter	Independent	522	1.1%

1961

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Harry Jensen	Labor	24,389	48.1%
John Cramer	Liberal	22,991	45.4%
Edward Beck	Democratic Labor Party	3,278	6.5%

1963

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	29,947	57.5%
William Baird	Labor	19,462	37.3%
Allan Dwyer	Democratic Labor Party	2,422	4.6%
Joseph Woodhouse	Independent	296	0.6%

1966

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	31,239	59.3%
Geoffrey O'donnell	Labor	14,987	28.4%
Robert Turner	LRG	3,808	7.2%
Edward Connolly	Democratic Labor Party	2,672	5.1%

1969

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	26,974	48.6%
Peter Evatt	Labor	20,402	36.7%
Kenneth Cook	AP	3,144	5.7%
Ronald Claridge	Democratic Labor Party	2,524	4.5%
Allan Horton	Independent	2,495	4.5%

1972

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Cramer	Liberal	27,113	46.0%
Norman Russell	Labor	22,534	38.2%
Gladwys Leach	AP	6,212	10.5%
Gwendoline Fitzpatrick	Democratic Labor Party	2,040	3.5%
Jean Sulima	Independent	1,061	1.8%

1974

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	32,700	51.7%
Richard Hall	Labor	26,581	42.0%
Gillian Sutton	AP	2,649	4.2%
John Anlezark	Independent	1,311	2.1%

1975

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	39,867	60.5%
Noel Welsman	Labor	23,319	35.4%
Brian Johnson	AP	1,527	2.3%
John Anlezark	Independent	1,195	1.8%

1977

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	37,080	56.2%
Noel Welsman	Labor	19,794	30.0%
Bruce Irwin	Australian Democrats	8,544	13.0%
David Rennie	Independent	556	0.8%

1980

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	36,075	53.9%
John Guthrie	Labor	24,262	36.3%
Pamela Tuckwell	Australian Democrats	4,724	7.1%
James Darby	Independent	1,856	2.8%

1983

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	33,721	50.3%
Donald Vickers	Labor	23,799	35.5%
Milo Dunphy	Independent	8,495	12.7%
Steve Gabell	Independent	1,000	1.5%

1984

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	33,820	54.2%
Margaret Duckett	Labor	23,251	37.2%
Steve Gabell	Australian Democrats	5,377	8.6%

1987

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	36,266	56.9%
Beverley Sharpe	Labor	21,533	33.8%
Paul Taylor	Australian Democrats	4,603	7.2%
Stephen Davidson	Independent	710	1.1%
John Dawson	Independent	573	0.9%

1990

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	33,862	52.8%
Martin Claridge	Labor	18,363	28.6%
Bob Springett	Australian Democrats	5,827	9.1%
Judy Messer	Independent	3,381	5.3%
Hugh Pitty	NDP	1,399	2.2%
Robyn Peebles	Communist Party	893	1.4%
John Dawson	Independent	372	0.6%

1993

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	37,096	50.1%
Monique Rotik	Labor	30,826	41.6%
Suzanne Reddy	Australian Democrats	3,910	5.3%
John Dawson	Independent	1,222	1.7%
Geoff Dalgliesh	Independent	570	0.8%
Michael Roylance	Independent	393	0.5%

1996

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	40,589	53.8%
Wendy Mahon	Labor	24,248	32.2%
Suzanne Reddy	Australian Democrats	4,700	6.2%
Paul Kemp	AAFI	1,968	2.6%
Jamie Parker	Greens	1,861	2.5%
Robert Shaw	NAN	1,305	1.7%
Tim Carr	Independent	227	0.3%
John Dawson	Independent	208	0.3%
Julien Droulers	Independent	187	0.2%
James Bernard	Independent	111	0.1%

1998

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	36,976	49.2%
Wendy Mahon	Labor	23,929	31.9%
Bob Springett	Australian Democrats	3,504	4.7%
Gordon King	One Nation	3,099	4.1%
Sarah Kemp	Unity	2,923	3.9%
Jamie Parker	Greens	2,306	3.1%
David Lung	Independent	1,319	1.8%
William Gollan	Independent	341	0.5%
John Dawson	Independent	186	0.2%
Prime Piss	Independent	183	0.2%
Julien Droulers	Independent	128	0.2%
Tim Carr	Independent	123	0.2%
Marcus Aussie-Stone	Independent	71	0.1%

2004

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	38,326	49.9%
Nicole Campbell	Labor	21,819	28.4%
Andrew Wilkie	Greens	12,573	16.4%
Ray Levick	Christian Democratic Party	1,824	2.4%
Peter Goldfinch	Australian Democrats	967	1.3%
Gary Hannah	Independent	854	1.1%
Troy Rollo	Independent	451	0.6%

2007

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Howard	Liberal	39,551	45.5%
Maxine Mckew	Labor	39,408	45.3%
Lindsay Peters	Greens	4,811	5.5%
Robyn Peebles	Christian Democratic Party	1,119	1.3%
Peter Goldfinch	Australian Democrats	610	0.7%
Lorraine Markwell	Family First	289	0.3%
Margherita Tracanelli	Independent	269	0.3%
Victor Waterson	One Nation	261	0.3%
Graeme Cordiner	Independent	239	0.3%
David L Allen	Independent	123	0.1%
Yusuf Tahir	Independent	97	0.1%
David Leyonhjelm	Independent	89	0.1%
Gavin Spencer	Independent	70	0.1%

2010

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Alexander	Liberal	41,582	48.5%
Maxine Mckew	Labor	31,803	37.1%
Lindsay Peters	Greens	6,808	7.9%
Julie Worsley	Christian Democratic Party	1,842	2.1%
Sue Ray	Independent	1,105	1.3%
Victor Waterson	One Nation	725	0.8%
Stephen Chavura	Family First	570	0.7%
Mary Mockler	Independent	478	0.6%
Terje Petersen	Independent	344	0.4%
Bill Pounder	Independent	275	0.3%
Martin Levine	Independent	170	0.2%

2013

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Alexander	Liberal	46,907	53.0%
Jason Yat-Sen Li	Labor	28,726	32.5%
Lindsay Peters	Greens	7,454	8.4%
Julie Worsley	Christian Democratic Party	2,135	2.4%
Robert Marks	Palmer United Party	1,589	1.8%
Lachlan Mccaffrey	Democratic Labor Party	617	0.7%
John August	Independent	602	0.7%
Victor Waterson	Independent	492	0.6%

2016

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Alexander	Liberal	46,497	50.4%
Lyndal Howison	Labor	26,270	28.5%
Justin Alick	Greens	8,424	9.1%
Julie Worsley	Christian Democratic Party	5,903	6.4%
Martin Mulcare	Independent	2,885	3.1%
John August	Independent	1,260	1.4%
Christopher Gordon	Independent	992	1.1%

2019

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
John Alexander	Liberal	48,942	50.8%
Brian Owler Am	Labor	32,769	34.0%
Qiu Yue Zhang	Greens	9,116	9.5%
Julie Worsley	Christian Democratic Party	3,588	3.7%
Andrew Marks	United Australia Party	1,890	2.0%

Margin Over Time

Final (after-preferences) winning margin, percentage points, coloured by the winning party.

Trend

Bennelong has been contested at 27 federal elections on record since 1949. Winning parties over that span: Liberal, Labor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Bennelong in the 2019 federal election?

John Alexander (Liberal) won Bennelong in 2019 after preferences, with 54,809 votes (56.9%) to None's 41,496.

Which parties have won Bennelong since 1949?

Since 1949, Bennelong has been won by: Labor, Liberal.

What was the closest result in Bennelong?

The closest result on record for Bennelong was 1961, when John Cramer (Liberal) beat Harry Jensen by 832 votes (1.6 percentage points) after preferences.