Date dissolved 1920 | Dates current 1880–19201927–present | |
 | ||
Area 19,686.86 km (7,601.1 sq mi) Party Liberal Party of Australia | ||
Albury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Greg Aplin of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Albury is a regional electorate in the state's south. It encompasses the local government areas of the City of Albury, Greater Hume Shire, Federation Council, Tumbarumba Shire, part of Murrumbidgee Council and a small part of Tumut Shire that includes the town of Cabramurra. Its significant population centres include Albury, Culcairn, Jindera, Corowa, Howlong, Holbrook, Jerilderie, and Tumbarumba.
History
Albury was first created in 1880 from part of Hume and is named after the city of Albury. In 1920, Albury, Wagga Wagga, and Corowa were absorbed into Murray, and four members were elected under proportional representation. At the end of proportional representation in 1927, Albury was recreated.
Albury has generally been considered as a heartland seat for the conservative parties. The Liberal Party of Australia and its predecessors have held the seat for almost all of its history. While there have been several instances of the Australian Labor Party breaking the conservative hold on the seat, these have typically been short-lived and have occurred only at the peak of a popular government. For instance, former Albury mayor Harold Mair won the seat for Labor in 1978 and held it for a decade. Mair was swept away in the landslide Labor defeat of 1988. Liberal Ian Glachan, who had been Mair's opponent in 1984, actually turned Albury into a safe seat in one stroke.
Since then, Labor has never come close to retaking the seat. Labor candidates are usually fortunate to get much more than 30 percent of the primary vote. The Liberal hold on the seat has only been seriously threatened once, when Glachan suffered a 16-point swing against independent Claire Douglas. Glachan only held on to the seat by 687 votes. The seat reverted to form in 2003 upon Glachan's retirement. His successor, Greg Aplin, won 61.5 percent of the two-party vote, and Labor was pushed to fourth place on the primary vote behind Alpin and two independents.