Electoral district of Sydney

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox Australian Electorate Sydney is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales in Inner Sydney.

Independent Alex Greenwich has represented the seat since the 2012 Sydney by-election, triggered by the resignation of previous independent Clover Moore, who was the Lord Mayor of Sydney, due to introduced state laws preventing dual membership of state parliament and local council.

Geography

Sydney includes the Sydney CBD. On its current boundaries, Sydney takes in the suburbs and localities of Barangaroo, Broadway, Chinatown, Darling Harbour, Darlinghurst, Dawes Point, Elizabeth Bay, Haymarket, Millers Point, Paddington, Potts Point, Pyrmont, The Rocks, Woolloomooloo, Wynyard, Surry Hills, Rushcutters Bay; and parts of Ultimo.

History

In the first Parliament of the New South Wales colony, 1856–57, there was a four-member electoral district called Sydney City with voters casting four votes, and the four leading candidates being elected. In 1859, it was replaced by the four-member districts of East Sydney and West Sydney. In 1894, the three four-member districts of East Sydney, West Sydney and South Sydney (created in 1880) were replaced by eleven single-member districts with "Sydney" in their title: Sydney-Belmore, Sydney-Bligh, Sydney-Cook, Sydney-Denison, Sydney-Fitzroy, Sydney-Flinders, Sydney-Gipps, Sydney-King, Sydney-Lang, Sydney-Phillip and Sydney-Pyrmont. From 1904, these electorates were renamed or abolished.

In 1920, the inner-city electoral districts of Belmore, Darlinghurst, King, Paddington, Phillip and Surry Hills were combined to create a new incarnation of Sydney, which elected five members by proportional representation. This was replaced by the single member electorates of King, Paddington, Phillip and Surry Hills for the 1927 election. Central Sydney subsequently fell within a number of successive electorates, including Elizabeth and Port Jackson.

Sydney was recreated for the 2007 election, replacing abolished district Bligh and also taking in the Sydney CBD and Pyrmont that were previously in Port Jackson (the remainder of Port Jackson became the Electoral district of Balmain).

From 1920 to 1927 the district included Lord Howe Island, which was transferred from and to the electorate of King. As part of the redistribution of electoral districts for the 2023 state election, a proposal was received to move Lord Howe Island back into the electorate of Sydney. However, the NSW Electoral Commission eventually decided to retain the island within the electorate of Port Macquarie, which has included the island since 1991.

Members for Sydney

First incarnation (1920–1927, 5 members)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
rowspan=5 Template:Australian party style|	Daniel Levy REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1920–1927	Template:Australian party style|	Arthur Buckley REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1920–1922	rowspan=4 Template:Australian party style|	John Birt REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1920–1925	Template:Australian party style|	Michael Burke REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1920–1922	rowspan=3 Template:Australian party style|	Patrick Minahan REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1920–1925
rowspan=4 Template:Australian party style|				Joseph Jackson REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1922–1927	Template:Australian party style|	Greg McGirr REDIRECT Template:Hair space				Template:Australian politics/name	1922–1925
Template:Australian party style|							Template:Australian politics/name					1925–1925
rowspan=2 Template:Australian party style|							Michael Burke REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name				1925–1927	Template:Australian party style|	William Holdsworth REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1925–1927
Template:Australian party style|									Patrick Minahan REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	1925–1927		Template:Australian party style|

Second incarnation (2007–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
Template:Australian party style|	Clover Moore REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	2007–2012
Template:Australian party style|	Alex Greenwich REDIRECT Template:Hair space	Template:Australian politics/name	2012–present