Wagga Wagga is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state 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 district has been held by MP

Joe McGirr Joseph Gregory McGirr (born 19 June 1960) is an independent politician, and a physician and former associate dean of the University of Notre Dame Australia. He has been the member for Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly sin ...

since the September 2018 by-election. Wagga Wagga is a regional electorate. It entirely covers two local government areas: the

City of Wagga Wagga City of Wagga Wagga is a local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The Mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga is Cr. Dallas Tout, an independent politician. City, town and localities The City of Wagga Wagg ...

and

Lockhart Shire Lockhart Shire is a local government area in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was created in 1906 and is an agricultural and pastoral area. The main towns and villages in the Shire include Lockhart (950 people), ...

. It also covers part of the

Snowy Valleys Council The Snowy Valleys Council is a local government area located in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. This area was formed in 2016 from the merger of the Tumut Shire with the neighbouring Tumbarumba Shire. The council a ...

, which was established following the merger of

Tumut Shire Tumut Shire () was a local government area in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. Tumut Shire was established in 1928 by the amalgamation of the Municipality of Tumut with the surrounding Gadara Shire. A 2015 review ...

and Tumbarumba Shire.

History

Wagga Wagga was created in 1894. In 1920, Wagga Wagga,

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

and

Corowa Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. It is the largest town in the Federation Council ...

was absorbed into

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

and elected three members under

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. When proportional representation was replaced by single-member electorates in 1927, Wagga Wagga was recreated, with Matthew Kilpatrick, the Country Party candidate, winning the October election. According to the Wagga ''Daily Advertiser'', it was a decisive vote against the continuance of the Labor government led by Jack Lang. Labor regained the seat in its 1941 landslide, holding it until the Liberals took it back in 1957. It remained safely Liberal for most of the last half-century, despite being located in the midst of an area considered Country/ National heartland. This tradition was broken in 2018, when longtime Liberal member

Daryl Maguire Daryl William Maguire (born 25 March 1959) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Wagga Wagga for the Liberal Party from 1999 to 2018. On 30 March 2011, Maguire was appointed ...

was forced out of politics due to a corruption scandal. At the ensuring by-election, the Liberal primary vote almost halved, allowing independent

to take the seat on 59.6 percent of the two-candidate vote. Although Labor was knocked down to third place on the primary vote, the swing against the Liberals was large enough to make Wagga Wagga a notional Labor seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with the Liberals. McGirr retained the seat with an increased majority at the 2019 state election, with the Liberals standing down in favour of the Nationals. However, in the "traditional" matchup, the Nationals would have regained the seat for the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

(Citation needed).

Members for Wagga Wagga

Election results

References

{{Members of the Parliament of New South Wales

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

1894 establishments in Australia

1920 disestablishments in Australia

1927 establishments in Australia