Gilmore covers an area along the NSW South Coast, from Kiama in the north to Tuross Head in the south. Its main population centres include Kiama, Nowra, Berry, Ulladulla, Batemans Bay, Moruya and Tuross Head. Aside from farming and timber, it’s an area much favoured by holiday-makers and retirees.
Nowra-born Fiona Phillips was elected to the seat in 2019 and again in 2022. Prior to her election, and with the exception of the years 1993-1996, the Nationals or the Liberal Party held the seat continuously from its inception in 1984.
In 2022 Phillips narrowly defeated the Liberal candidate, Andrew Constance, on preferences. The pair will go head to head again at the 2025 election. Constance is a veteran NSW politician, having previously served as the NSW Treasurer (2014-15) and as Minister for Transport and Roads in the second Berejiklian ministry from 2019 to 2021. While his electorate at that time was further south, Constance achieved a high profile as a minister, and particularly during the bushfires of Black Summer.
In the 2022 election ABC Friends campaigned on the theme of “the ABC saves lives”, focusing on the ABC’s emergency services, which had played a critical role during the Black Summer bushfires, in which the Gilmore electorate bore the brunt of the massive, long-running fires.
ABC Friends also campaigned on the theme of “the ABC deserves better than an election bandaid”.
After years of defunding, and with the election looming, the Morrison government announced $87 million extra for the ABC over three years. This merely reversed the 2019 indexation freeze — without giving back the many millions stripped from the ABC. ABC Friends urged voters not to believe the spin and to vote for a candidate who genuinely supported a well-funded, independent ABC.
This election, once again we’ll be asking candidates in Gilmore to tell us where they stand on the ABC. And we’ll ask voters to support candidates who support a fearless, independent ABC.