The Division of Dobell is 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 ...

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 ...

. Dobell is a

NSW Central Coast The Central Coast is a peri-urban region in New South Wales, Australia, lying on the Tasman Sea coast to the north of Sydney and south of Newcastle. The local government area of the Central Coast Council has an estimated population of 333, ...

electorate with large populations of both

retirees A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

and young families fleeing

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

's expensive real estate. The electorate includes the northern suburbs of

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

Terrigal Terrigal is a coastal town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the local government area. History Terrigal was first settled in 1826 by European Settler John Gray, ...

, The Entrance,

Bateau Bay Bateau Bay is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the local government area. Bateau Bay lies in the area known as Darkinjung to Indigenous Australians. "Bateau" is French for "boat." The subur ...

, Berkeley Vale, Toukley,

Budgewoi Budgewoi is a suburb located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, as part of the local government area. Budgewoi is located 112 km by road north of the Sydney central business district. Much of the town is surrounded ...

and

Wyong Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area. Hist ...

. The current MP is Emma McBride, a member 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 ...

. She has served since

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

History

The Division of Dobell was created in 1984 and is named in honour of

Sir William Dobell Sir William Dobell (24 September 189913 May 1970) was an Australian portrait and landscape artist of the 20th century. Dobell won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on three occasions. The Dobell Prize is named ...

, the painter. Dobell was originally a fairly safe seat for the

, but grew increasingly marginal from 1996 onward. The seat was ultimately won by the Liberal Party in the 2001 election. The Liberals consolidated their hold on the seat at the 2004 election; however Labor regained the seat at the 2007 election when Craig Thomson defeated

Ken Ticehurst Kenneth (Ken) Vincent Ticehurst (born 22 January 1945) is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 2001 to 2007, representing the Division of Dobell in New South Wales for the Lib ...

. Its most prominent members have been Michael Lee, a former minister in the Keating government and later

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

, who held the seat for Labor between 1984 and 2001; and Craig Thomson. Thomson, a former union official, was elected to represent Labor in 2007 and gained notoriety when, as part of the

Health Services Union expenses affair The Health Services Union expenses affair was an Australian political scandal that concerned criminal activities associated with the financial affairs of the Health Services Union of Australia (HSU), between 2006 and 2007; and the Health Servic ...

, it was alleged there was improper use of Thomson's union-issued corporate credit card. In April 2012, Thomson sought suspension from the Labor Party and sat on the

crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member of the House of Representatives. Thomson stood as an independent candidate at the subsequent 2013 Federal Election and received 4% of the vote. After leaving parliament, Thomson was found guilty of fraud. A redistribution prior to the 2016 federal election saw Dobell change from a marginal Liberal seat in to a notional marginal Labor seat with a notional Labor two-party margin of 0.2 percent. Incumbent Liberal member

Karen McNamara Karen Jane McNamara (born 23 April 1964) is an Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from 2013 to 2016, representing the New South Wales electorate of Dobell. She lost her seat at the 2016 el ...

re-contested the seat, but was defeated by Labor candidate Emma McBride, the daughter of former state MP

Grant McBride Grant Anthony McBride (29 December 1949 – 12 February 2018) was an Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of The Entrance on the New South Wales Central Coast for the ...

, on a swing of four percent.

Boundaries

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by 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 ...

. 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 Central Coast region and includes the towns of The Entrance,

Tuggerah Tuggerah () is a developing suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Main North Line railway and Sydney-Newcastle Freeway approximately 90 km north of Sydney. It is the Business Hub, Major Shopp ...

and

. The electorate stretches from Blue Haven in the north to

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

in the south, from The Entrance in the East through the Jilliby Valley. The division includes the suburbs

, Berkeley Vale, Blue Haven, The Entrance, Gorokan, Jilliby, Lisarow,

Ourimbah Ourimbah () is a small township in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of the Sydney CBD. Ourimbah is located approximately halfway between Sydney and Newcastle. The township today consists of small sc ...

, Toukley,

, Tumbi Umbi, Wamberal,

, and

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Dobell - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobell, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1984 1984 establishments in Australia Central Coast (New South Wales)