The Division of Charlton was an
Australian electoral division in the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. The division was created in 1984 and is named for
Matthew Charlton
Matthew Charlton (15 March 1866 – 8 December 1948) was an Australian politician who served as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition from 1922 to 1928. He led the party to defeat at the 1922 and 1925 federal e ...
, who was Leader of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
1922–28.
The division was located in the
Hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
region of New South Wales, including the coal-mining towns of
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Wallsend
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...
as well as
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Morisset,
Cooranbong, Brightwaters, Windermere Park, Sunshine,
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
and
Warners Bay
Warners Bay is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, and is located from Newcastle's central business district on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie. It was named after Jonathan Warner, who settled the area.
...
.
The division was renamed
Division of Hunter
The Division of Hunter is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The division was named a ...
in the
2016 federal election, while the previous Division of Hunter was abolished in the same election. The last Member for Charlton, from the
2013 federal election, was
Pat Conroy
Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books '' The Water is Wide'', ''The Lords of Discipline'', ''The Prince of Tides'' and '' The Great Santini'' w ...
, a member of the Australian Labor Party.
History
Charlton was first created in 1984. Much of its territory came from Hunter, which Matthew Charlton held from 1910 to 1928. From its inception, it had been a safe seat for Labor. The Hunter Region is one of the few areas outside capital cities where Labor has consistently done well.
The most prominent members were
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasman ...
, a minister in the
Hawke and
Keating governments, and
Greg Combet
Gregory Ivan Combet (; born 28 April 1958) is a former Australian politician and trade unionist. He was Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions between 1999 and 2007. He was elected member for the New South Wales Federal seat of Ch ...
, a former secretary of the
ACTU
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated trade union, unions and eight t ...
from 2000 to 2007, and a minister in the
Gillard and
Rudd
''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). Th ...
governments.
During the 2013 federal election campaign, the
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
endorsed Kevin Baker as their candidate for the division. However, Baker was forced to end his campaign on 21 August 2013 due to controversy over inappropriate content on a car enthusiasts' website that he hosted. The
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
had closed candidate nominations by the time Baker abandoned his campaign. The Liberals did not field a replacement candidate in the election. However, Baker was still listed on ballot papers as the Liberal candidate, as they had already been printed at the time of Baker's resignation from the campaign; in excess of electors gave him their first preference vote.
Under the original proposed redistribution for the
2016 federal election, the
Division of Hunter
The Division of Hunter is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The division was named a ...
was to be abolished. Since Hunter is an original Federation electorate, the
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
's guidelines for redistributions required it to make every effort to preserve the Hunter name. To that end, the Commission proposed renaming Charlton to Hunter. Effectively, this meant that Charlton was abolished, and Hunter pushed slightly eastward to absorb much of Charlton's former territory.
Although most voters of the new Hunter division came from the former Charlton division, Conroy stood down in favour of the member for the old Hunter division,
Joel Fitzgibbon
Joel Andrew Fitzgibbon (born 16 January 1962) is a retired Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2022, representing the New South Wales seat of Hunt ...
. Conroy contested and won the neighbouring seat of
Shortland.
Members
Election results
References
External links
Division of Charlton - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlton, Division of
Former electoral divisions of Australia
Constituencies established in 1984
Constituencies disestablished in 2016
1984 establishments in Australia
2016 disestablishments in Australia