Division of Robertson

Robertson Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Robertson in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1901
MP	Lucy Wicks
Party	Liberal
Namesake	John Robertson
Electors	108,509 (2016)
Area	980 km² (378.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Robertson is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 75 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The division was named after Sir John Robertson, the fifth Premier of New South Wales.

In 1901 Robertson was a rural western electorate encompassing the area around Dubbo, Mudgee and Wellington. It moved eastward to take in Gosford in 1913, and since then it has been moved eastward in successive redistributions. By 1969, it had moved to approximately its current position on the Central Coast, immediately north of the Hawkesbury River, and now includes none of its former territory. Nonetheless, it has retained the name of Robertson, in part because the Australian Electoral Commission is required to preserve the names of original electorates where possible.^[1]

It encompasses the towns of Woy Woy, Gosford and Terrigal.

Two of its members have served as Senators prior or subsequent to their tenures on Robertson. Former Senator Belinda Neal was elected in Robertson in 2007 and Deborah O'Neill became a Senator shortly after losing Robertson in 2013.

In recent years, Robertson has been a bellwether electorate in federal elections, taking on a character similar to mortgage belt seats on Sydney's outer fringe. The seat has a perfect record of voting for the party winning government since the 1983 federal election.

The current Member for Robertson, since the 2013 federal election, is Lucy Wicks, a member of the Liberal Party of Australia. In addition, after Mike Kelly became the first opposition MP elected to represent Eden-Monaro since 1975, Robertson currently holds the record for the longest-running bellwether seat in Australia.

The new bellwether

Ahead of the 2016 election, ABC psephologist Antony Green listed Robertson in his election guide as one of eleven which he classed as "bellwether" electorates. Prior to the 2016 election, the seat of Eden-Monaro was long regarded as Australia's most famous bellwether. From the 1972 election until the 2013 election – nearly half a century – Eden-Monaro was won by the party that also won government. No longer the nation's famous bellwether seat after the Labor opposition won it at the 2016 election, the nation's new longest-running bellwether is Robertson – continually won by the party that won government since the 1983 election.^[2]

Members

	Party	Term
Henry Willis	Free Trade, Anti-Socialist	1901–1909
Henry Willis	Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1910
William Johnson	Labour	1910–1913
William Fleming	Commonwealth Liberal	1913–1917
	Nationalist	1917–1921
	Country	1921–1922
Sydney Gardner	Nationalist	1922–1931
Sydney Gardner	United Australia	1931–1940
Eric Spooner	United Australia	1940–1943
Thomas Williams	Labor	1943–1949
Roger Dean	Liberal	1949–1964
William Bridges-Maxwell	Liberal	1964–1969
Barry Cohen	Labor	1969–1990
Frank Walker	Labor	1990–1996
Jim Lloyd	Liberal	1996–2007
Belinda Neal	Labor	2007–2010
Deborah O'Neill	Labor	2010–2013
Lucy Wicks	Liberal	2013–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Robertson

Australian federal election, 2016: Robertson^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Lucy Wicks	42,573	44.68	+1.15
	Labor	Anne Charlton	36,611	38.43	+3.74
	Greens	Hillary Morris	7,954	8.35	+2.75
	Independent	Van Davy	2,726	2.86	+2.86
	Christian Democrats	Robert Stoddart	2,539	2.66	+1.40
	Antipaedophile	Lawrie Higgins	1,527	1.60	+1.60
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Craig	1,347	1.41	+1.41
Total formal votes			95,277	94.97	+0.90
Informal votes			5,042	5.03	−0.90
Turnout			100,319	92.45	−1.88
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Lucy Wicks	48,728	51.14	−1.95
	Labor	Anne Charlton	46,549	48.86	+1.95
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.95

References

↑ "Guidelines for naming divisions". Australian Electoral Commission. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
↑ The Bellwether Contests: Antony Green ABC
↑ Robertson, NSW, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

Division of Robertson - Australian Electoral Commission

Electoral divisions of the Australian House of Representatives in New South Wales

Banks Barton Bennelong Berowra Blaxland Bradfield Calare Chifley Cook Cowper Cunningham Dobell Eden-Monaro Farrer Fowler Gilmore Grayndler Greenway Hughes Hume Hunter Kingsford Smith Lindsay Lyne Macarthur Mackellar Macquarie McMahon Mitchell New England Newcastle North Sydney Page Parkes Parramatta Paterson Reid Richmond Riverina Robertson Shortland Sydney Warringah Watson Wentworth Werriwa Whitlam Abolished: Barrier Bland Canobolas Charlton Cook (1906–55) Dalley Darling Dundas East Sydney Evans Gwydir Illawarra Lang Lawson Lowe Martin Nepean Parkes (1901–69) Phillip Prospect Riverina-Darling St George South Sydney Throsby Watson (1934–69) West Sydney

Divisions in: New South Wales Victoria Queensland Western Australia South Australia Tasmania Australian Capital and Northern Territories

Coordinates: 33°22′55″S 151°12′47″E / 33.382°S 151.213°E / -33.382; 151.213

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