Division of Lyne

The Division of Lyne is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Lyne
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Lyne in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created1949
MPDavid Gillespie
PartyNationals
NamesakeSir William Lyne
Electors118,865 (2019)
Area16,099 km2 (6,215.9 sq mi)
DemographicRural

History

Sir William Lyne, the division's namesake

The division is named after Sir William Lyne, Premier of New South Wales at the time of Federation. He was commissioned by the first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun to form the inaugural Federal Government. He was unable to attract sufficient support to form a cabinet and returned the commission. The unsuccessful commissioning of Lyne is known as The Hopetoun Blunder. Lyne subsequently served as a minister in the early Protectionist governments.

The Division of Lyne was created in a redistribution in 1949 and was represented by the National Party (previously the Country Party and National Country Party) for almost 60 years. This reflects the area's history as a strongly conservative and rural region. The division covers parts of southern Port Macquarie Hastings City and almost the entire Mid-Coast Council local government areas. The area has recently undergone significant demographic changes with the arrival of a large number of retired people and city dwellers seeking a sea-change. Despite these changes the Australian Labor Party has made little headway in increasing its vote.

In 1993, after the exclusion of minor candidates, the Nationals' Mark Vaile led over the Liberals by only 233 votes on the third count. Labor had taken a large first-count lead which it held for most of the night, but Vaile won after Liberal preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him. However, had 120 votes gone the other way, the Liberals would have taken the seat.[1] Vaile later went on to become leader of the Nationals and Deputy Prime Minister during the latter stages of the Howard Government. He retired in July 2008, triggering a by-election later that year. The seat was lost to independent candidate and former state MP Rob Oakeshott, who retained the seat at the 2010 election.

Oakeshott announced on 26 June 2013 that he would not contest the 2013 election. It was widely expected that the seat would revert to the Nationals; despite Oakeshott's previous personal popularity, Lyne was still a comfortably safe National seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor. As expected, David Gillespie, who had been Oakeshott's opponent in 2010, easily reclaimed the seat for the Nationals.

Members

Image Member Party Term Notes
  Jim Eggins
(1898–1952)
Country 10 December 1949
28 January 1952
Previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Died in office
  Philip Lucock
(1916–1996)
Country 22 March 1952
2 May 1975
Retired
  National Country 2 May 1975 –
19 September 1980
  Bruce Cowan
(1926–2011)
National Country 18 October 1980
16 October 1982
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Oxley. Retired
  Nationals 16 October 1982 –
8 February 1993
  Mark Vaile
(1956–)
Nationals 13 March 1993
30 July 2008
Served as minister and Deputy Prime Minister under Howard. Resigned in order to retire from politics
  Rob Oakeshott
(1969–)
Independent 6 September 2008
5 August 2013
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Port Macquarie. Retired
  David Gillespie
(1957–)
Nationals 7 September 2013
present
Incumbent

Election results

2019 Australian federal election: Lyne[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National David Gillespie 49,934 49.35 −0.22
Labor Phil Costa 24,371 24.09 −2.47
Greens Stuart Watson 6,589 6.51 −2.93
Liberal Democrats Dean McCrae 5,864 5.80 +5.80
Independent Jeremy Miller 5,169 5.11 +5.11
United Australia Garry Bourke 4,098 4.05 +4.05
Conservative National Ryan Goldspring 1,986 1.96 +1.96
Australian Workers Ed Caruana 1,676 1.66 +1.66
Christian Democrats Catherine Zhao 1,493 1.48 −1.56
Total formal votes 101,180 90.93 −4.48
Informal votes 10,096 9.07 +4.48
Turnout 111,276 93.73 +0.29
Two-party-preferred result
National David Gillespie 65,942 65.17 +3.54
Labor Phil Costa 35,238 34.83 −3.54
National hold Swing+3.54

References

  1. http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2008/lyne/
  2. Lyne, NSW, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.

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