Cunningham — Australian Federal Election Results

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

Cunningham was won by Sharon Bird (Labor) at the 2019 federal election, with a margin of 26,995 votes over Chris Atlee after preferences. This page covers every federal election in Cunningham 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	William Davies	Labor	22,795	65.7%	Alan Thomson (Liberal)	10,903 (31.4 pts)
1951	William Davies	Labor	24,433	65.8%	Alan Thompson (Liberal)	11,759 (31.7 pts)
1954	William Davies	Labor	27,383	66.1%	John Parkinson (Liberal)	13,316 (32.1 pts)
1955	William Davies	Labor	25,180	65.3%	John Parkinson (Liberal)	11,810 (30.6 pts)
1958	Victor Kearney	Labor	25,087	62.2%	Michael Hough (Liberal)	9,845 (24.4 pts)
1961	Victor Kearney	Labor	31,474	64.4%	Michael Hough (Liberal)	14,052 (28.7 pts)
1963	Rex Connor	Labor	31,905	60.4%	Michael Hough (Liberal)	11,005 (20.8 pts)
1966	Rex Connor	Labor	31,986	57.7%	John Poel (Liberal)	8,513 (15.4 pts)
1969	Rex Connor	Labor	35,092	65.3%	John Poel (Liberal)	16,474 (30.7 pts)
1972	Rex Connor	Labor	38,306	71.2%	John Poel (Liberal)	22,782 (42.3 pts)
1974	Rex Connor	Labor	47,129	72.1%	Warren Hough (Liberal)	28,887 (44.2 pts)
1975	Rex Connor	Labor	42,350	62.9%	Peter Swan (Liberal)	17,378 (25.8 pts)
1977	Stewart West	Labor	36,559	63.1%	Thomas Griffin (Liberal)	15,140 (26.1 pts)
1980	Stewart West	Labor	40,042	64.7%	Thomas Griffin (Liberal)	18,224 (29.5 pts)
1983	Stewart West	Labor	46,419	72.2%	Gary Fisher (Liberal)	28,545 (44.4 pts)
1984	Stewart West	Labor	38,750	69.1%	Gayle Mitchell (Liberal)	21,385 (38.1 pts)
1987	Stewart West	Labor	37,442	64.4%	Jeff Thomson (Liberal)	16,749 (28.8 pts)
1990	Stewart West	Labor	32,471	52.4%	Meg Sampson (Australian Democrats)	2,998 (4.8 pts)
1993	Stephen Martin	Labor	47,485	67.9%	Ralph Lynch (Liberal)	25,045 (35.8 pts)
1996	Stephen Martin	Labor	44,302	62.9%	Philip Williams (Liberal)	18,180 (25.8 pts)
1998	Stephen Martin	Labor	48,423	68.2%	Alan Akhurst (Liberal)	25,842 (36.4 pts)
2004	Sharon Bird	Labor	45,026	61.5%	John Larter (Liberal)	16,797 (22.9 pts)
2007	Sharon Bird	Labor	57,382	68.1%	Colin Fowler (Liberal)	30,535 (36.3 pts)
2010	Sharon Bird	Labor	56,234	63.2%	Philip Clifford (Liberal)	23,454 (26.3 pts)
2013	Sharon Bird	Labor	54,595	59.9%	Philip Clifford (Liberal)	18,013 (19.8 pts)
2016	Sharon Bird	Labor	61,377	63.3%	Michelle Blicavs (Liberal)	25,830 (26.6 pts)
2019	Sharon Bird	Labor	63,836	63.4%	Chris Atlee (Liberal)	26,995 (26.8 pts)

First-Preference Result by Election

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

1949

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
William Davies	Labor	22,795	60.7%
Alan Thomson	Liberal	11,892	31.7%
Eric Aarons	Communist Party of Australia	2,854	7.6%

1951

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
William Davies	Labor	24,433	61.7%
Alan Thompson	Liberal	12,674	32.0%
Eric Aarons	Communist Party of Australia	2,466	6.2%

1954

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
William Davies	Labor	27,383	62.1%
John Parkinson	Liberal	14,067	31.9%
William Parkinson	Communist Party of Australia	2,644	6.0%

1955

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
William Davies	Labor	25,180	62.2%
John Parkinson	Liberal	13,370	33.0%
William Harkness	Communist Party of Australia	1,931	4.8%

1958

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Victor Kearney	Labor	25,087	57.8%
Michael Hough	Liberal	15,242	35.1%
Harold Woods	Democratic Labor Party	1,716	4.0%
William Mcdougall	Communist Party of Australia	1,336	3.1%

1961

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Victor Kearney	Labor	31,474	62.0%
Michael Hough	Liberal	17,422	34.3%
William Mcdougall	Communist Party of Australia	1,884	3.7%

1963

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Rex Connor	Labor	31,905	58.4%
Michael Hough	Liberal	20,900	38.2%
William Mcdougall	Communist Party of Australia	1,836	3.4%

1966

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Rex Connor	Labor	31,986	54.5%
John Poel	Liberal	23,473	40.0%
Victor Kearney	Independent	1,951	3.3%
Reginald Wilding	Communist Party of Australia	977	1.7%
Jeffrey Fenton	Independent	354	0.6%

1969

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Rex Connor	Labor	35,092	64.0%
John Poel	Liberal	18,618	34.0%
Reginald Wilding	Communist Party of Australia	1,126	2.1%

1972

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Rex Connor	Labor	38,306	64.4%
John Poel	Liberal	15,524	26.1%
John Sladek	AP	2,962	5.0%
Peter Daly	Democratic Labor Party	1,968	3.3%
Reginald Wilding	Communist Party of Australia	692	1.2%

1974

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Rex Connor	Labor	47,129	69.9%
Warren Hough	Liberal	18,242	27.1%
Susan Healy	AP	2,067	3.1%

1975

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Rex Connor	Labor	42,350	61.7%
Peter Swan	Liberal	24,972	36.4%
Peter Robertson	Independent	681	1.0%
Bernard Groben	Independent	611	0.9%

1977

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stewart West	Labor	36,559	53.5%
Thomas Griffin	Liberal	21,419	31.3%
Ross Sampson	Australian Democrats	7,388	10.8%
Noel Dennett	Independent	1,583	2.3%
Mervyn Nixon	Communist Party of Australia	1,073	1.6%
Rudolph Dezelin	Independent	375	0.5%

1980

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stewart West	Labor	40,042	55.9%
Thomas Griffin	Liberal	21,818	30.5%
Megan Sampson	Australian Democrats	5,185	7.2%
Peter Cockcroft	Communist Party of Australia	2,585	3.6%
Andrew Jamieson	Independent	1,197	1.7%
Richard Moore	Independent	810	1.1%

1983

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stewart West	Labor	46,419	63.2%
Gary Fisher	Liberal	17,874	24.3%
George Jones	Australian Democrats	4,986	6.8%
Diana Covell	Independent	2,802	3.8%
Romaine Rutnam	Communist Party of Australia	704	1.0%
Rudolf Pasara	Independent	689	0.9%

1984

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stewart West	Labor	35,250	62.8%
Gayle Mitchell	Liberal	14,209	25.3%
Greg Butler	Australian Democrats	4,281	7.6%
Neil Cleary	Independent	1,221	2.2%
Rudolph Dezelin	Independent	621	1.1%
John Garcia	Independent	561	1.0%

1987

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stewart West	Labor	34,365	59.1%
Jeff Thomson	Liberal	17,171	29.5%
Ray Dargavel	Australian Democrats	6,038	10.4%
Rudy Pasara	Independent	568	1.0%

1990

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stewart West	Labor	27,547	44.4%
Jeff Thompson	Liberal	13,511	21.8%
Meg Sampson	Australian Democrats	8,455	13.6%
Rex Connor	Independent	7,947	12.8%
Steve Brigham	Greens	4,295	6.9%
Peter Symonds	Independent	308	0.5%

1993

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stephen Martin	Labor	41,011	58.6%
Ralph Lynch	Liberal	18,453	26.4%
Carole Medcalf	Independent	3,300	4.7%
Daniela Reverberi	Australian Democrats	2,890	4.1%
Meg Sampson	Independent	1,932	2.8%
Robert O'neill	Communist Party	1,155	1.7%
Michael West	Independent	740	1.1%
Fred Misdom	Independent	510	0.7%

1996

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stephen Martin	Labor	37,267	52.6%
Philip Williams	Liberal	21,124	29.8%
Will Douglas	Greens	4,139	5.8%
Mark Chilton	Australian Democrats	3,535	5.0%
Robert O'neill	Communist Party	1,863	2.6%
Margaret Perrott	Independent	1,675	2.4%
Paul Wilcock	Independent	939	1.3%
Fred Misdom	Independent	317	0.4%

1998

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Stephen Martin	Labor	37,592	52.9%
Alan Akhurst	Liberal	17,285	24.3%
John Curtis	One Nation	5,378	7.6%
Stephen Ivaneza	Australian Democrats	4,108	5.8%
Les Robinson	Greens	3,158	4.4%
Robert O'neill	Christian Democratic Party	1,755	2.5%
Margaret Perrott	Independent	663	0.9%
Jennifer Van Der Horn	Unity	550	0.8%
Frank Coluccio	Independent	515	0.7%

2004

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Sharon Bird	Labor	29,041	39.6%
John Larter	Liberal	21,115	28.8%
Michael Organ	Greens	14,747	20.1%
Jeff Dakers	Christian Democratic Party	2,547	3.5%
David Moulds	Independent	1,796	2.5%
James Keene	Labor	1,774	2.4%
Tony Evans	Australian Democrats	686	0.9%
Christopher Scrogie	Independent	509	0.7%
Paul Wilcock	Independent	375	0.5%
John Flanagan	Independent	355	0.5%
Chris Williams	Socialist Alliance	310	0.4%

2007

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Sharon Bird	Labor	44,835	53.2%
Colin Fowler	Liberal	22,438	26.6%
Michael Organ	Greens	12,326	14.6%
Nolene Norsworthy	Christian Democratic Party	2,232	2.6%
Jemma Tribe	Family First	1,203	1.4%
Jess Moore	Independent	706	0.8%
John Flanagan	Independent	489	0.6%

2010

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Sharon Bird	Labor	43,769	49.2%
Philip Clifford	Liberal	29,241	32.8%
George Takacs	Greens	13,461	15.1%
Jess Moore	Independent	1,303	1.5%
John Flanagan	Independent	1,240	1.4%

2013

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Sharon Bird	Labor	41,522	45.5%
Philip Clifford	Liberal	30,685	33.7%
Helen Wilson	Greens	10,730	11.8%
Christopher Atlee	Palmer United Party	4,253	4.7%
Rob George	Christian Democratic Party	2,204	2.4%
John Flanagan	Independent	897	1.0%
John Bursill	Katter's Australian Party	886	1.0%

2016

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Sharon Bird	Labor	46,414	47.9%
Michelle Blicavs	Liberal	28,263	29.2%
Cath Blakey	Greens	14,200	14.7%
Michelle Ryan	Christian Democratic Party	3,939	4.1%
Nathan Waters	Independent	2,526	2.6%
John Flanagan	Independent	1,582	1.6%

2019

Candidate	Party	First-Pref. Votes	Share
Sharon Bird	Labor	46,923	46.6%
Chris Atlee	Liberal	31,177	31.0%
Rowan Huxtable	Greens	15,196	15.1%
Grace Younger	United Australia Party	3,828	3.8%
John Gill	Independent	2,340	2.3%
John Flanagan	Independent	1,213	1.2%

Margin Over Time

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

Trend

Cunningham has been contested at 27 federal elections on record since 1949. Winning party over that span: Labor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Cunningham in the 2019 federal election?

Sharon Bird (Labor) won Cunningham in 2019 after preferences, with 63,836 votes (63.4%) to Chris Atlee's 36,841.

Which parties have won Cunningham since 1949?

Since 1949, Cunningham has been won by: Labor.

What was the closest result in Cunningham?

The closest result on record for Cunningham was 1990, when Stewart West (Labor) beat Meg Sampson by 2,998 votes (4.8 percentage points) after preferences.