Division of Newcastle

This article is about the Australian federal electorate. For the New South Wales state electorate, see Electoral district of Newcastle.

Newcastle Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Newcastle (green) in New South Wales
Created:	1901
MP:	Sharon Grierson
Party:	Labor
Namesake:	Newcastle, New South Wales
Area:	354 km² (137 sq mi)
Demographic:	Provincial

The Division of Newcastle is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is centred around the city of Newcastle, after which it is named.

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 the city of Newcastle, around which the Division is centred. The seat is currently a safe Labor seat. It has been held by the Australian Labor Party since it was created, and it is the only original Division to be held by just one party since the first Federal election.

Liberal Party preselection for the 2010 Federal election was local family planning consultant and Newcastle City Councillor Brad Luke. The incumbent member Sharon Grierson recontested for the Labor Party.

Members

The Division of Newcastle has had just five members since 1901, the fewest of any of the original Divisions. Indeed, up until 1958 the seat had been held by the Watkins family, son David taking over from father David in 1935. Allan Morris' brother Peter Morris was also a Member of the House, holding the Division of Shortland, which lies immediately to the south. Charles Jones' brother Sam was the member for Waratah in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for much of the time that he was the member. The electoral district of Waratah lay within the boundaries of the Division of Newcastle.

Member		Party	Term
	David Watkins	Labor	1901–1935
	David Oliver Watkins	Labor	1935–1958
	Charles Jones	Labor	1958–1983
	Allan Morris	Labor	1983–2001
	Sharon Grierson	Labor	2001–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Newcastle

Australian federal election, 2010: Newcastle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Sharon Grierson	39,253	47.89	-2.88
	Liberal	Brad Luke	25,680	31.33	+5.77
	Greens	Michael Osborne	12,677	15.47	+5.45
	Christian Democrats	Milton Caine	1,479	1.80	+0.54
	Democrats	Dean Winter	1,419	1.73	+0.68
	Socialist Alliance	Zane Alcorn	829	1.01	+0.62
	Socialist Equality	Noel Holt	627	0.76	+0.43
Total formal votes			81,964	94.31	-1.26
Informal votes			4,948	5.69	+1.26
Turnout			86,912	93.56	-1.69
Two-candidate preferred result
	Labor	Sharon Grierson	51,220	62.49	-3.42
	Liberal	Brad Luke	30,744	37.51	+3.42
	Labor hold		Swing	-3.42

References

• Division of Newcastle - Australian Electoral Commission