The Division of Calare 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 first contested at the 1906 election; created to replace the abolished

Division of Canobolas The Division of Canobolas was 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. It was abolished ...

, and is named for the local Aboriginal name for the Lachlan River, which runs through the western part of the division. The Aboriginal name is pronounced Kal-''ah''-ree, but the pronunciation Kul-''air'' is established for the division. The division originally encompassed Forbes, Orange and Parkes. Subsequent boundary changes moved it eastwards to encompass Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon. On these boundaries it was notionally a marginal seat between 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 t ...

(which held it 1983–96) and the National Party, but it was held comfortably by an independent,

Peter Andren Peter James Andren Member of the Order of Australia, AM (28 August 1946 – 3 November 2007) was an Australian politician. He was an independent member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until October 2007, representing t ...

, from 1996 to 2007. Andren was not a candidate for the 2007 election: he intended to run for a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seat but was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2007 and died during the election campaign. A redistribution in 2006 moved the boundaries west to take in Cowra, Grenfell and the vast north-west of New South Wales from

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a ...

Menindee Menindee (frequently but erroneously spelled "Menindie" ) is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Darling River, with a sign-posted population of 980 and a population of 551 ...

, making Calare New South Wales's largest electorate. Lithgow, Bathurst and Oberon, which tend to favour Labor, were transferred to the neighbouring seat of

Macquarie Macquarie may refer to: People * Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. * Elizabeth Macquarie Campbell, Lachlan Macquarie's second wife Locations * Division of Macquarie, an electoral district in th ...

. At the 2007 federal election, Calare was won by the Nationals' representative John Cobb on a margin of 12.1 percent. Cobb had previously represented the

Division of Parkes The Division of Parkes is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. History The former Division of Parkes (1901–69) was located in suburban Sydney, and was not related to this division, except in name. The divisio ...

, parts of which were redistributed into Calare in 2006. The 2009 redistribution of NSW moved the boundaries back east, to again include Lithgow, Bathurst and Oberon. Most of the northwestern area of the division was transferred to the neighbouring

.http://aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2009/nsw/announcement-maps/Calare-Parkes.jpg The changes took effect at the 2010 election. The division currently stretches from Mudgee, Gulgong,

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Go ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

in the north-west, to Orange, Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon in the south-east and Canowindra in the south-west. The current Member for Calare, since the 2016 federal election, is Andrew Gee, an Independent member who was originally elected as a member of the National Party.

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Calare – Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calare, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1906 1906 establishments in Australia