The battle for Barton is being fought in Labor heartland but it is also a contest of traditional, emerging and newly politically-engaged communities.
Since it was established in 1922 Barton has been held by the ALP for more than 70 years and remains a safe Labor seat, held by a margin of 8.3 per cent.
This election there are several new candidates who have strong ties with a wide spectrum of emerging communities that represent the changing profile of Sydney.
These include candidates of Nepalese, Chinese, Greek backgrounds among others. More importantly, all have strong local ties.
Barton covers an area stretching from Marrickville in the north to Jubilee Avenue, Princess Highway and President Avenue in the south; Kingsgrove Road, the M5 and King Georges Road in the west to Cooks River and Botany Bay in the east.
The main suburbs include Bexley, Brighton-Le-Sands, part of Carlton, Earlwood, Hurstville, part of Kingsgrove, Kyeemagh, Rockdale, Tempe and Wolli Creek.
There are six candidates standing for Barton.
They are:
- Linda Burney (Labor);
- Pramej Shrestha (Liberal);
- Ben Tung Liu (United Australia Party);
- Sonny Susilo (Christian Democratic Party Fred Nile Group);
- Connor Parissis (The Greens),
- Phillip Pollard (Pauline Hanson's One Nation).
Barton MP Linda Burney won the seat of the Liberals at the last election, making her the first indigneous woman to be elected to the Federal Parliament.
Ms Burney secured 58.3 per cent of the vote on a two candidate preferred basis compared with the Liberal's Nick Vavaris' 41.7 per cent.
The former teacher has extensive political experience both inside and outside parliament.
She was a member of thee NSW Parliament for 13 years as the Member for Canterbury and held a number of senior portfolios including as Minister for Community Services and later as Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
Following her election to the Federal House of Representatives she was appointed as Shadow Minister for Human Services. Recently, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Preventing Family Violence. Outside parliament, has served on a number of boards including SBS, the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, and the NSW Board of Studies.
Liberal candidate for Barton is Pramej Shrestha who is of Nepalese background and has strong ties with the local community, attending Penshurst Public School, St George Christian School and Georges River College Oatley Campus.
He has a Bachelor of Business from Australian Catholic University and was winner of Mr Nepal Oceania in 2016, donating the prize money to the rebuilding of a school in Nepal.
He is supporting tax relief for families and small businesses.
The Greens candidate Connor Parrisis, 21, grew up in Earlwood and is of Greek background and is part of the LGBT community.
Mr Parrisis said he represented the new generation of the politically engaged.
He is involved in mental health activism and is a youth advocate with headspace Camperdown and has campaigned for refugee and indigenous rights, the YES campaign for marriage equality.
The Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group) candidate Sonny Susilo and Pauline Hanson's One Nation candidate Phillip Pollard have both stood before.
Mr Susilo stood for the CDP in Barton in the 2016 election, achieving 4.2 per cent of the vote.
Mr Pollard is a retired lithographic printer from Beverly Hills and contested the local seat of Kogarah at the March state election in March and polled 6.1 per cent.
The field is completed by local dentist United Australia Party's Ben Tung Liu who is representing Clive Palmer's platform of increasing the aged care pension by 20 per cent and cutting taxes.
Following the redistribution of boundaries in 2015, a number of Liberal polling booths south of President Avenue went to the electorate of Cook, held by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Of the almost 40 polling booths in the Barton electorate, Labor held the majority by a range of 50 to 77 per cent on a two party preferred basis.
The Liberals polled 50.7 per cent in Kyeemagh in the east (two party preferred) and 51.5 per cent at booths in Kingsgrove in the west of the electorate.
The Liberals held two polling booths at Beverly Hills north of Stoney Creek Road at 51 and 52 per cent. Curiously, just across Stoney Creek Road, Beverly Hills, Labor achieved a vote of 54 per cent.
The Liberals also held the polling booth at Hurstville with 51.2 per cent.
Locally, Labor achieved its highest polling booth result in Arncliffe Central with 65.7 per cent of the vote and Arncliffe West with 64.6 per cent.
Labor also had strong showings at booths at Rockdale West (63 per ceny), Bexley East (61 per cent), and Bexley and Carlton (60 per cent).
In the electorate north of the Cooks River, Labor held polling booths with results at high as 77 per cent.
