Newcastle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales named after and including Newcastle. It is represented since the 2014 Newcastle by-election by Tim Crakanthorp of the Australian Labor Party.
Geography The district takes in the eastern part of the City of Newcastle, including the parts of the suburbs from Hexham to Mayfield lying to the east of the Main North railway line, Broadmeadow, Hamilton South, Merewether Heights and Merewether and the suburbs further east, including central Newcastle and Hamilton. It also includes the Port Stephens Council suburbs of Fern Bay and Fullerton Cove.
History Newcastle was created in 1859 from part of North Eastern Boroughs. It gained a second member in 1880 and a third member in 1889. With the abolition of multi-member electorates in 1894, it was divided into Newcastle East, Newcastle West, Kahibah, Waratah and Wickham. These changes to the electoral boundaries were debated. Newcastle was re-created in the 1904 re-distribution of electorates following the 1903 New South Wales referendum, which required the number of members of the Legislative Assembly to be reduced from 125 to 90. It consisted of Newcastle East and part of Newcastle West. With the introduction of proportional representation in 1920, it absorbed Kahibah, Wallsend and Wickham and elected five members. With the end of proportional representation in 1927, Newcastle was split into the single-member electorates of Newcastle, Hamilton, Kahibah and Wallsend.
It has since been usually held by the Labor Party. This pattern was threatened in early 2007, when sitting member Bryce Gaudry lost his preselection to a former local newsreader, Jodi McKay. Gaudry opted to stand as an independent and as a consequence split the Labor Party's vote. Independent former Lord Mayor of Newcastle John Tate came close to winning the seat after preferences but McKay managed to hold on. Labor's previous margin of over 15% had been slashed to as little as 1.4%, making it one of Labor's most marginal seats.
At the 2011 New South Wales state election, Liberal Tim Owen defeated incumbent and one-term member McKay and popular Independent Tate, marking the first time the Liberals or their predecessors had won Newcastle as a single-member seat in over a century. This was one of many gains the Liberals made in what was previously Labor heartland.
Owen became an independent and moved to the crossbench on 6 August 2014 after accusations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).Two NSW Liberal MPs stand aside from the party following ICAC revelations on campaign funding: ABC 6 August 2014 He resigned from parliament on 12 August 2014 after evidence of corruption was uncovered.Newcastle MP Tim Owen and Charlestown MP Andrew Cornwell resign from NSW Parliament following ICAC donations inquiry: SMH 12 August 2014 The Liberals opted not to contest the ensuing by-election, which saw Labor's Tim Crakanthorp reclaim the seat handily.
Members for Newcastle First incarnation (1859–1880, 1 member) Member Party Term Arthur Hodgson None 1859–1860 James Hannell None 1860–1869 George Lloyd None 1869–1877 Richard Bowker None 1877–1880 (1880–1889, 2 members) Member Party Term Member Party Term James FletcherNone1880–1887 George Lloyd None 1880–1882 James Ellis None 1882–1885 George Lloyd None 1885–1887 1887–1889 James Ellis 1887–1889 (1889–1894, 3 members) Member Party Term Member Party Term Member Party Term James Fletcher1889–1891 Alexander Brown1889–1891 William Grahame 1889–1889 James Curley 1889–1891 William Grahame 1891–1894 David Scott 1891–1894 John Fegan 1891–1894 Second incarnation (1904–1920, 1 member) Member Party Term William Dick 1904–1907 Owen Gilbert 1907–1910 Arthur Gardiner 1910–1917 1917–1920 (1920–1927, 5 members) Member Party Term Member Party Term Member Party Term Member Party Term Member Party Term Arthur Gardiner1920–1922 John Estell1920–1922 John Fegan1920–1922 William Kearsley 1920–1921 Hugh Connell1920–1927 David Murray1921–1927 Walter Skelton 1922–1925 Jack Baddeley1922–1927 Magnus Cromarty 1922–1925 1925–1927 George Booth 1925–1927 (1927–present, 1 member) Member Party Term Peter Connolly 1927–1935 Frank Hawkins 1935–1968 Arthur Wade 1968–1988 George Keegan 1988–1991 Bryce Gaudry 1991–2007 2007–2007 Jodi McKay 2007–2011 Tim Owen 2011–2014 Independent 2014–2014 Tim Crakanthorp 2014–present
Election results
References