Electoral district of Bathurst

Bathurst New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Location in New South Wales
State or territory:	New South Wales
Created:	1859
MP:	Paul Toole
Party:	National Party of Australia
Electors:	49,738 (2011)
Area:	14,875 km² (5,743 sq mi)
Demographic:	Rural

Bathurst is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Paul Toole of the National Party of Australia.

The 2004 redistribution of electoral districts estimated that the electoral district would have 48,849 electors on 29 April 2007. At the 2007 election it encompassed Bathurst Region (including Bathurst), the City of Lithgow, Oberon Shire, most of Blayney Shire (including Blayney, Carcoar and Millthorpe) and the southern part of Mid-Western Regional Council (including Rylstone, Kandos and Ilford).

History

Bathurst was created in 1859, partly replacing Western Boroughs. Between 1920 to 1927, it absorbed parts of Hartley and Orange and elected three members under proportional representation. In 1927 Bathurst, Hartley and Orange were recreated as single-member electorates. It was held by the Labor party for 20 years until the Coalition's landslide win in 2011, where the Nationals candidate Paul Toole recorded a swing of over 36%, one of the largest in history.

Members for Bathurst

(1859–1920, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	John Clements	None	1859—1860
	James Hart	None	1860—1864
	James Kemp	None	1864—1866
	William Suttor, Sr.	None	1866—1872
	Edward Combes	None	1872—1874
	Francis Bathurst Suttor	None	1875—1887
	William Cortis	Free Trade	1887—1889
	William Paul	Free Trade	1889—1891
	Francis Bathurst Suttor	Protectionist	1891—1894
	Sydney Smith	Free Trade	1894—1898
	Francis Bathurst Suttor	Protectionist	1898—1900
	William Young	Protectionist	1900—1901
		Progressive	1901—1907
		Independent	1907—1907
	John Miller	Liberal and Reform	1907—1913
	Ernest Durack	Labor	1913—1917
	Valentine Johnston	Labor	1917—1920

(1920–1927, 3 members)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	James Dooley	Labor	1920—1927		Valentine Johnston	Labor	1920—1922		John Fitzpatrick	Nationalist	1920—1927
					Charles Rosenthal	Nationalist	1922—1925
					Gus Kelly	Labor	1925—1927

(1927–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	Gus Kelly	Labor	1927—1932
	Gordon Wilkins	Country	1932—1935
	Gus Kelly	Labor	1935—1967
	Clive Osborne	Country	1967—1981
	Mick Clough	Labor	1981—1988
	David Berry	Liberal	1988—1991
	Mick Clough	Labor	1991—1999
	Gerard Martin	Labor	1999—2011
	Paul Toole	National	2011—present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Bathurst

New South Wales state election, 2011: Bathurst
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Paul Toole	30,777	67.2	+36.4
	Labor	Dale Turner	9,607	21.0	-32.5
	Greens	Diane Westerhuis	2,843	6.2	+1.4
	Independent	Richard Trounson	2,596	5.7	+5.7
Total formal votes			45,823	97.9	-0.2
Informal votes			983	2.1	+0.2
Turnout			46,806	94.7	+0.8
Two-candidate preferred result
	National	Paul Toole	31,940	73.7	+36.7
	Labor	Dale Turner	11,426	26.3	-36.7
	National gain from Labor		Swing	+36.7