The Division of Newcastle 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 ...

Geography

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.

History

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 after the city of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, around which the division is centred. It has been held by the Australian Labor Party for its entire existence. Historically, it has been one of that party's safest non-metropolitan seats; the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

is one of the few country regions where Labor consistently does well. Labor has never tallied less than 58 percent of the

Two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

in a general election, and has only come close to losing it once, when it tallied 53 percent in a 1935 by-election. It is the only original division to be held by just one party since the first federal election. The Division of Newcastle has had just six members since 1901, the fewest of any of the original divisions. From 1901 to 1958, the seat was held by the Watkins family. The seat's first member, David Watkins, held the seat until his death in 1935. The ensuing by-election was won by his son, David Oliver.

Allan Morris Allan Agapitos Morris (born 26 July 1940) is a former Australian politician. Born in Waratah, New South Wales, he was educated at the University of Newcastle and became a computer programmer. He served on Newcastle City Council and Shortland ...

' brother Peter Morris was also a Member of the House, holding the

Division of Shortland The Division of Shortland is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appo ...

, which lies immediately to the south. Charles Jones' brother Sam was the member for

Waratah Waratah (''Telopea'') is an Australian-endemic genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania). The best-known species in this genus is ''Telopea speci ...

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for much of the time that he was the member. The electoral district of Waratah lay within the boundaries of the Division of Newcastle. The seat's most prominent members were David Watkins, the second-longest serving member of the First Parliament, and Charles Jones, a minister in the Whitlam Government. The current Member, since the 2013 federal election, is

Sharon Claydon Sharon Catherine Claydon (born 26 April 1964) is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Newcastle in New South Wales, since September 2013. Early life Cla ...

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Newcastle - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newcastle, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1901 1901 establishments in Australia Port Stephens Council