Electoral district of Upper Hunter

Upper Hunter New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
nsw_electoral_district_upperhunter_2015.svg Location in New South Wales
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1856–1894 1904–1920 1927–present
MP	Michael Johnsen
Party	The Nationals
Area	27,687.50 km^2 (10,690.2 sq mi)

Upper Hunter is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Michael Johnsen of the The Nationals.

Upper Hunter covers the entirety of Dungog Shire, Gloucester Shire, Muswellbrook Shire, Upper Hunter Shire, Liverpool Plains Shire (excluding the area around Werris Creek), the northern half of Singleton Shire (including Singleton itself), western Great Lakes Shire (including Stroud) and northeastern Mid-Western Regional Council (including Bylong).^[1]

History

In 1859, Upper Hunter replaced the Electoral district of Phillip, Brisbane and Bligh, established in the first Parliament in 1856. It had two members from 1880 to 1894. It was abolished in 1894 and largely replaced by Robertson and Singleton. In 1904 Robertson was abolished and Upper Hunter was recreated. It was abolished from 1920 with the introduction of proportional representation, but was recreated in 1927.

Upper Hunter is one of three electorates to have never been held by the Australian Labor Party and always by the conservative side of politics since the abolition of proportional representation in 1927, the other two being Tamworth and Oxley. The The Nationals has held it without interruption since 1931.

Members for Upper Hunter

First incarnation (1856–1880, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	John Robertson	None	1859–1861
	Thomas Dangar	None	1861–1864
	James White	None	1864–1868
	Archibald Bell	None	1868–1872
	John Creed	None	1872–1874
	Francis White	None	1874–1875
	Thomas Hungerford	None	1875–1875
	John McElhone	None	1875–1880

(1880–1894, 2 members)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	John McLaughlin	None	1880–1885		John McElhone	None	1880–1885
	Robert Fitzgerald	None	1885–1887		Thomas Hungerford	None	1885–1887
		Free Trade	1887–1889		John McElhone	Free Trade	1887–1889
		Protectionist	1889–1894		William Abbott	Protectionist	1889–1891
				Thomas Williams	Labor	1891–1894

Second incarnation (1904–1920, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	William Fleming	Liberal Reform	1904–1910
	William Ashford	Labor	1910–1910
	Henry Willis	Liberal Reform	1910–1913
		Independent Liberal	1913–1913
	Mac Abbott	Liberal Reform	1913–1917
		Nationalist	1917–1918
	William Cameron	Nationalist	1918–1920
(1927–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	William Cameron	Nationalist	1927–1931
	Malcolm Brown	Independent Country	1931–1932
		Country	1932–1939
	D'Arcy Rose	Country	1939–1959
	Leon Punch	Country	1959–1962
	Frank O'Keefe	Country	1962–1969
	Col Fisher	Country, National	1970–1988
	George Souris	National	1988–2015
	Michael Johnsen	National	2015–present

Election results

New South Wales state election, 2015: Upper Hunter[2][3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Michael Johnsen	18,384	38.9	−15.6
	Labor	Martin Rush	15,387	32.5	+14.3
	Independent	Lee Watts	9,170	19.4	+19.4
	Greens	John Kaye	2,608	5.5	−0.1
	Christian Democrats	Richard Stretton	1,003	2.1	−0.3
	No Land Tax	Louisa Checchin	744	1.6	+1.6
Total formal votes			47,296	96.9	+0.4
Informal votes			1,506	3.1	−0.4
Turnout			48,802	91.2	+0.2
Two-party-preferred result
	National	Michael Johnsen	20,496	52.2	−20.8
	Labor	Martin Rush	18,764	47.8	+20.8
	National hold		Swing	−20.8

References

1. "Upper Hunter". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
2. State Electoral District of Upper Hunter: First Preference Votes, NSWEC.
3. State Electoral District of Upper Hunter: Distribution of Preferences, NSWEC.