State New South Wales MP Tim Crakanthorp Member of parliament Tim Crakanthorp | Dates current 1859–1894
1904–present Area 121.2 km² Party Australian Labor Party | |
Newcastle is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales named after and including Newcastle. It was represented since 2011 by Tim Owen of the Liberal Party of Australia who became an independent in 2014 shortly before resigning from parliament. The 2014 Newcastle by-election occurred on 25 October, Tim Crakanthorp of the Australian Labor Party regained the seat.
The district takes in the eastern part of the City of Newcastle, including the parts of the suburbs from Hexham to Mayfield lying to the east of the Main North railway line, Broadmeadow, Hamilton South, Merewether Heights and Merewether and the suburbs further east, including central Newcastle and Hamilton. It also includes the Port Stephens Council suburbs of Fern Bay and Fullerton Cove.
History
Newcastle was created in 1859 from part of North Eastern Boroughs. It gained a second member in 1880 and a third member in 1889. With the abolition of multi-member electorates in 1894, it was divided into Newcastle East, Newcastle West, Kahibah, Waratah and Wickham. Newcastle East and Newcastle West were abolished in 1904, with the reduction in the size of Parliament and Newcastle was recreated. With the introduction of proportional representation in 1920, it absorbed Kahibah, Wallsend and Wickham and elected five members. With the end of proportional representation in 1927, Newcastle was split into the single-member electorates of Newcastle, Hamilton, Kahibah and Wallsend. Changes to the electoral boundaries were debated.
It has since been usually held by the Australian Labor Party; the Upper Hunter is one of the few country areas where Labor consistently does well. This pattern was threatened in early 2007, when sitting member Bryce Gaudry lost his preselection to a former local newsreader, Jodi McKay. Gaudry opted to stand as an independent and as a consequence split the Labor Party's vote. Independent former Lord Mayor of Newcastle John Tate came close to winning the seat after preferences but McKay managed to hold on. Labor's previous margin of over 15% had been slashed to as little as 1.4%, making it one of Labor's most marginal seats.
At the New South Wales state election, 2011, Liberal Tim Owen defeated incumbent and one-term member McKay and popular Independent Tate, marking the first time the Liberals or their predecessors had won Newcastle as a single-member seat in over a century. This was one of many gains the Liberals made in what was previously Labor heartland.
Owen became an independent and moved to the crossbench on 6 August 2014 after accusations at ICAC. He resigned from parliament on 12 August 2014 after evidence of corruption was uncovered. The Liberals opted not to contest the ensuing by-election, which saw Labor reclaim the seat handily.