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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Division Of New England

The Division of New England is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

History

The region of New England, the division's namesake

The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. It is named after the New England region in northern New South Wales.

From 1922 to 2001, New England was usually regarded as a comfortably safe seat for the National Party, formerly the Country Party. Only one Labor candidate has ever won the seat – Frank Foster at the 1906 election and again at the 1910 election, both times on small margins. Since then, the closest Labor has come to winning the seat was in the 1943 landslide, when the Country majority was pared back to an extremely marginal 1.1 percent. It was a marginal seat for most of the 1980s, but since the 1990s Labor has been lucky to get 40 percent of the two-party vote, and has frequently been pushed into third place.

The seat's best-known member was Ian Sinclair, leader of the National Party from 1984 to 1989, a minister in the Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments and Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives for a few months in 1998. He was succeeded by Stuart St. Clair in the 1998 election.

St. Clair was then defeated in the 2001 by independent Tony Windsor, who held it until his retirement in 2013.

The member since the 2013 federal election has been former Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce, who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2018. Amid the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis, the seat was declared vacant on 27 October 2017 by the High Court of Australia arising from Joyce's dual citizenship. Joyce had renounced his dual citizenship effective from August to become a sole citizen of Australia and was thus eligible to run for federal parliament. Joyce regained the seat at a by-election on 2 December.

Boundaries

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

The division is located in the north-east of New South Wales, adjoining the border with Queensland. The 66,394 km² division covers a largely rural area, with agriculture the main industry. From south to north it includes the regional population centres of Scone, Tamworth, Armidale, Glen Innes, Inverell and Tenterfield.

Under the original redistribution proposal in 2015, the Australian Electoral Commission announced it intended to abolish Hunter. Electors in the north of Hunter would have joined New England. Ultimately however, the Commission opted for a less radical proposal that saw Charlton abolished, Hunter pushed eastward to absorb most of Charlton's territory, and New England absorbing a few small areas in Hunter's north. Due to changing populations, overall New South Wales lost a seat while Western Australia gained a seat.

Members

Image Member Party Term Notes
  William Sawers
(1844–1916)
Protectionist 29 March 1901
16 December 1903
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Tamworth. Lost seat
  Edmund Lonsdale
(1843–1913)
Free Trade 16 December 1903
1906
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Armidale. Lost seat. Later elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Armidale in 1907
  Anti-Socialist 1906 –
12 December 1906
  Frank Foster
(1872–1948)
Labor 12 December 1906
31 May 1913
Lost seat
  Percy Abbott
(1869–1940)
Liberal 31 May 1913
17 February 1917
Retired. Later elected to the Senate in 1925
  Nationalist 17 February 1917 –
3 November 1919
  Alexander Hay
(1865–1941)
13 December 1919
22 January 1920
Lost seat
  Country 22 January 1920 –
19 October 1921
  Independent 19 October 1921 –
16 December 1922
  Victor Thompson
(1885–1968)
Country 16 December 1922
21 September 1940
Served as minister under Lyons and Page. Lost seat
  Joe Abbott
(1891–1965)
21 September 1940
31 October 1949
Served as minister under Menzies and Fadden. Retired
  David Drummond
(1890–1965)
10 December 1949
1 November 1963
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Armidale. Retired
  Ian Sinclair
(1929–)
30 November 1963
2 May 1975
Previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Served as minister under Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon and Fraser. Served as leader of the National Party from 1984 to 1989. Served as Speaker during the Howard Government. Retired
  National Country 2 May 1975 –
16 October 1982
  Nationals 16 October 1982 –
31 August 1998
  Stuart St. Clair
(1949–)
3 October 1998
10 November 2001
Lost seat
  Tony Windsor
(1950–)
Independent 10 November 2001
5 August 2013
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Tamworth. Retired
  Barnaby Joyce
(1967–)
Nationals 7 September 2013
27 October 2017
Previously a member of the Senate. Served as minister under Abbott. Served as minister and Deputy Prime Minister under Turnbull and Morrison. Election results declared void due to dual citizenship. Subsequently re-elected. Incumbent
  2 December 2017
present

Election results

2022 Australian federal election: New England
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Barnaby Joyce 51,036 52.47 −2.35
Labor Laura Hughes 18,056 18.56 +5.81
Independent Matt Sharpham 7,659 7.87 +7.87
Greens Carol Sparks 7,524 7.74 +3.31
One Nation Richard Thomas 4,570 4.70 +4.70
Liberal Democrats Pavlo Samios 3,174 3.26 +3.26
Independent Natasha Ledger 2,708 2.78 −0.38
United Australia Cindy Duncan 2,545 2.62 −1.96
Total formal votes 97,272 93.74 +0.56
Informal votes 6,494 6.26 −0.56
Turnout 103,766 91.58 −1.76
Two-party-preferred result
National Barnaby Joyce 64,622 66.43 −1.20
Labor Laura Hughes 32,650 33.57 +1.20
National hold Swing −1.20

References

  1. ^ "2017 New England by-election - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Citizenship verdicts handed down by High Court, Barnaby Joyce disqualified". ABC News. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  3. ^ 2017 New England by-election: Antony Green ABC
  4. ^ Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  5. ^ Australian Electoral Commission to abolish Federal NSW seat of Hunter: ABC 16 October 2015
  6. ^ Green, Antony. "2015-16 New South Wales Federal Redistribution". Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  7. ^ New England, NSW, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

30°19′08″S 151°18′54″E / 30.319°S 151.315°E / -30.319; 151.315