As the cards began to fall in favour of incumbent Labor MP Stephen Jones on Saturday night, it was evident early that there’d be little contest in Whitlam. 

Member for Whitlam, Stephen Jones – a title that is somewhat a dream come true for the 50-year-old, seasoned Illawarra politician.

“I still remember when I was a seven-year-old kid sitting on my parent’s driveway in the 1972 election and we were talking as a family about the election that changed Australia,” Mr Jones said. 

In 1972, the Gough Whitlam-led Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeated the Liberal/Country Party Coalition, ending 23 years of successive Coaltion governments.

“To be the first member of parliament to be the Member for Whitlam is just an enormous honour and it’s a credit to these guys [party faithful] … who’ve worked so hard over not just the last eight weeks but the last three years,” Mr Jones said.

“I’m very pleased to see we’ve seen a swing back to us. [It is] too early to call about whether we’re going to form government, but absolutely not too late to say that Labor’s back in town.”

Mr Jones had been the Member for Throsby – a seat held by the ALP since its proclamation in 1984 – for the past six years. 

A recent boundary redistribution saw Throsby renamed Whitlam, in honour of Gough Whitlam.

The name came into effect this election. 

Labor’s Whitlam win would come as no surprise to many, given the party’s strong standing in the area, but Mr Jones didn’t downplay his victory. 

“All of those people who say Labor takes the seat for granted, I’ve got a very clear message for them,” he said.

“It was only Labor who made commitments about the Illawarra.

“The Liberals were vacant, didn’t even turn up to polling booths today [Saturday].”