Andrew Willcox retains Dawson in federal election 2025, Neil Wallace concedes

The election is over and Andrew Willcox will be serving another term in the opposition, but he says he’s ready to fight for his electorate and strive to keep his election promises.

Andrew Willcox was returned for another term as the federal member for Dawson, once again in opposition as Labor won the race to retain control of the government. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Andrew Willcox has secured a second-straight term as Dawson MP, but he doesn’t have much time for celebration.

In a stark contrast to the thunderous applause of Nigel Dalton’s state win at Harrup Park in 2024, the early results returning Mr Willcox as the LNP member for Dawson were met with quiet achievement.
The atmosphere even turned solemn briefly when the news broke; Peter Dutton would lose his seat and the coalition would need to look elsewhere for leadership.

“Unfortunately it’s a very bittersweet night for me things are looking quite good for my seat of Dawson but it looks like we might lose some key members within the coalition,” Mr Willcox said.

Dawson MP Andrew Willcox casting his vote at the Northern Beaches State High School Polling booth in the 2025 federal election. Photo: Ben Mihan.

“This isn’t a win for me this is a win for everybody in this room and a win for all the hardworking volunteers and campaign managers.”

Mr Willcox had 42 per cent of the primary vote with 73 per cent of the vote counted, a 1.5 per cent swing away from the LNP.
Labor challenger Neil Wallace achieved 26 per cent, an almost two per cent swing in his favour.

The projected two candidate preferred votes for Dawson predict a 1.6 per cent swing toward the LNP and project Willcox retaining the seat with 62 per cent of votes.

Mr Willcox said he would continue to work hard to deliver his election commitments, particularly his $5m pledge the RSL hub at Illawong Beach.

“We don’t have anything like that here and if those people are good enough to put their lives on the line, their bodies on the line … I think we should look after them when they come home,” Mr Willcox said.

“Just because I’m in opposition doesn’t mean I’ll give up.”

Andrew Willcox thanked Mr Wallace for a civil campaign and described the two of them battling the rain together at the Northern Beaches State High school as the last votes were cast.

“We don’t have the issues that they have in the big cities because we all live in small communities,” Mr Willcox said.

“After we do this you can have differences of opinion, you can have a difference of political views at the end of the day … we look after each other.”

Labor candidate for Dawson Neil Wallace voting at a pre-polling booth with his wife Joanne in the 2025 federal election.

Neil Wallace congratulated Mr Willcox and his team for their win and said he did what he could with nine weeks of candidacy.

“For the time I had I did what I could … we’ll see what the future holds for me,” Mr Wallace said.

Mr Wallace shared that his time was stretched thin early in the campaign after his wife, Joanne Wallace, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was going to her treatments and that’s why my time was so stretched,” Mr Wallace said.
“She was behind me 100 per cent when her diagnosis came in … we stopped and spoke about it and both agreed life goes on.”

Neil Wallace said he may run again in the next federal election and learned alot from his time campaigning. Photo: Fergus Gregg

Mr Wallace said he was likely to skip the next local government elections and “might fill the space for the next few years and have another run federally”.

“I enjoyed the campaign … I learned a lot,” Mr Wallace said

“We’ll be watching this space and see what everybody says … people will get to know me more over the next couple of years.”

At the time of writing One Nation suffered a three per cent swing away from candidate Darren Brown, scoring only 10 per cent of the vote. Gerard Rennick’s People First party and Trumpet of Patriots each accrued six per cent of the vote.

Family First candidate Dr Amanda Nickson received three per cent of the vote and Greens candidate Paula Creen experienced a slight 0.3 per cent swing away from her, only receiving 6.8 per cent of the vote.

Originally published as Andrew Willcox retains Dawson in federal election 2025, Neil Wallace concedes