Electoral district of Ballina

Ballina New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1894–1904 1988–present
MP	Tamara Smith
Party	Greens
Namesake	Ballina, New South Wales
Area	1,059.16 km2 (408.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

Ballina is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales.

History

Ballina was originally created in 1894, when the three-member electorate of Richmond was divided into Richmond, Lismore and Ballina. In 1904, Ballina was replaced by Byron. In 1988, a recreated Ballina and Murwillumbah replaced Byron.

The 2004 redistribution of electoral districts estimated that the electoral district would have 47,246 electors on 29 April 2007. At the 2007 election it encompassed all of Ballina Shire (including Ballina, Alstonville, Lennox Head and Wollongbar) and most of the populated areas of Byron Shire (including Byron Bay, Mullumbimby, Ocean Shores, Suffolk Park, Brunswick Heads, South Golden Beach and Bangalow).

The 2013 NSW state electoral redistribution once again changed the boundaries of the electorate, so at the next election it would comprise the entire shires of Ballina, and Byron.

The Greens won the seat of Ballina at the 2015 state election, bringing their lower house representation to three seats. It became the first rural seat in any Australian parliament to be won by the Greens.

Members for Ballina

First incarnation (1894–1904)
Member		Party	Term
	John Perry	Protectionist	1894–1901
		Progressive	1901–1904
Second incarnation (1988–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Don Page	The Nationals	1988–2015
	Tamara Smith	Greens	2015–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the district of Ballina

New South Wales state election, 2015: Ballina

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Kris Beavis	17,392	36.6	−19.6
	Greens	Tamara Smith	12,824	27.0	+4.5
	Labor	Paul Spooner	11,738	24.7	+12.8
	Independent	Jeff Johnson	3,708	7.8	+7.8
	Independent	Matthew Hartley	826	1.7	+1.7
	Christian Democrats	Vyvyan Stott	679	1.4	−0.5
	No Land Tax	Greg Zylber	291	0.6	+0.6
Total formal votes			47,458	97.7	+0.0
Informal votes			1,141	2.3	−0.0
Turnout			48,599	88.4	+2.0
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Paul Spooner	21,484	53.0	+27.7
	National	Kris Beavis	19,031	47.0	−27.7
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Tamara Smith	21,528	53.1	+20.1
	National	Kris Beavis	18,996	46.9	−20.1
	Greens gain from National		Swing	+20.1

External links

• "Ballina". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 January 2015.