The Division of Eden-Monaro () is an Australian electoral division in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. It includes the cities of

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...

, Bega and Eden. It is currently represented by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP Kristy McBain.

Geography

Eden-Monaro currently includes

Goulburn Mulwaree Council Goulburn Mulwaree Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Hume Highway and the Southern Highlands railway line ...

Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council is a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area (LGA) located in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a merger of t ...

Snowy Monaro Regional Council The Snowy Monaro Regional Council is a local government area located in the Snowy Mountains and Monaro regions of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a forced merger of the Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snow ...

, Bega Valley Shire and part of

Eurobodalla Shire Eurobodalla Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located in a largely mountainous coastal region and situated ...

, including

Narooma Narooma () is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales on the far south coast. The town is on the Princes Highway, which crosses the Wagonga Inlet to North Narooma. The heritage town of Tilba, New South Wales, Central Tilba is nearby t ...

, Bodalla and Tuross Head. 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 statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for the management and oversight of Australian federal elections, plebiscites, referendums and some trade union A ...

. 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. It is named for the town of Eden and the Monaro district of southern New South Wales. Its boundaries have changed relatively little throughout its history. It originally extended to the

Molonglo River The Molonglo River is a perennial stream, perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee River, Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin. It is located in the Monaro (New South Wales), Monaro and Capital Country regions of New ...

through Canberra (where it bordered on Werriwa) and St Georges Basin in the north, the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

and the Brindabellas in the west, the Victorian border in the south and the Pacific Ocean in the east. It currently includes the cities of

and

and the towns of Bega and

, as it did before the enlargement of Parliament at the 1984 distribution when it lost Goulburn. Between the 2014 distribution and the 2024 distribution it completely surrounded the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

, but otherwise it has been generally east of the territory. At the 2024 distribution, the local government areas of Yass Valley and Snowy Valleys were removed from the electorate and replaced by Goulburn Mulwaree from Hume. It also acquired the small town of Tuross Head from Gilmore. Until

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

non-Labor parties held the seat for all but three years. Since then, it has been consistently marginal, split between provincial territory that votes strongly for

and rural areas that vote equally strongly for the Liberals (and their predecessors) or the Nationals. However, it was in Labor hands for all but one term from 1943 to 1975. Up to the 2016 election, Eden-Monaro was long regarded as Australia's most well-known " bellwether seat". From

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

to 2013, Eden-Monaro was won by the party that also won the election. During this time, all its sitting members were defeated at the polls – none retired or resigned. Liberal incumbent Peter Hendy was defeated by Labor's Mike Kelly at the 2016 election. Kelly had previously represented Eden-Monaro from 2007 to 2013. Kelly's 2016 victory made him the seat's first opposition MP elected since 1969; it was also the first time since then that the non-Labor parties had been in government without holding Eden-Monaro. The nation's new bellwether became the seat of Robertson – continually won by the party that also won government since the 1983 election. "Best" bellwether aside, ABC psephologist

Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian Psephology, psephologist, Data science, data scientist, journalist, and commentator. He was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst until his retirement from the r ...

classed a total of eleven electorates as bellwethers in his 2016 election guide. Labor’s Kristy McBain became the first woman to represent the division when she narrowly held the seat in the 2020 Eden-Monaro by-election. At the 2022 election, she held the seat with a large swing to her, boosting her two-party margin to 8 points, the strongest result in the seat for either side of politics since

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Eden-Monaro - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eden-Monaro, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Electoral divisions of Australia in New South Wales Constituencies established in 1901 1901 establishments in Australia South Coast (New South Wales) Southern Tablelands