| Lyne AustralianHouse of RepresentativesDivision | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Division of Lyne inNew South Wales, as of the2016 federal election | |||||||||||||||
| Created | 1949 | ||||||||||||||
| MP | David Gillespie | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Nationals | ||||||||||||||
| Namesake | Sir William Lyne | ||||||||||||||
| Electors | 124,687 (2022) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 16,099 km2 (6,215.9 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Demographic | Rural | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
TheDivision of Lyne is anAustralian electoral division in thestate ofNew South Wales.
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by theAustralian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[1]
It includes the major towns ofDungog,Forster,Gloucester,Taree, andWauchope, as well as other smaller towns and some outer suburbs ofPort Macquarie. It covers the entirety of both theDungog Shire and theMid-Coast Council, as well as parts of thePort Macquarie-Hastings Council.
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The division is named afterSir William Lyne,Premier of New South Wales at the time ofFederation. He was commissioned by the firstGovernor-General,Lord Hopetoun to form the inaugural Federal Government, but was unable to attract sufficient support to form a cabinet and returned the commission. The unsuccessful commissioning of Lyne is known asThe Hopetoun Blunder. Lyne subsequently served as a minister in the earlyProtectionist governments.
The Division of Lyne was created in a redistribution in 1949 and was represented by the National Party (previously the Country Party and National Country Party) for almost 60 years. This reflects the area's history as a strongly conservative and rural region. The division covers parts of southernPort Macquarie Hastings City and almost the entireMid-Coast Council local government areas. The area has recently undergone significant demographic changes with the arrival of a large number of retired people and city dwellers seeking a sea-change. Despite these changes, theAustralian Labor Party has made little headway in increasing its vote.
In 1993, after the exclusion of minor candidates, the Nationals'Mark Vaile led over the Liberals by only 233 votes on the third count. Labor had taken a large first-count lead, which it held for most of the night, but Vaile won after Liberal preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him. However, had 120 votes gone the other way, the Liberals would have taken the seat.[2] Vaile later went on to become leader of the Nationals andDeputy Prime Minister during the latter stages of theHoward Government. He retired in July 2008, triggering aby-election later that year. The seat was lost toindependent candidate and former state MPRob Oakeshott, who retained the seat at the2010 election.
Oakeshott announced on 26 June 2013 that he would not contest the2013 election. It was widely expected that the seat would revert to the Nationals; despite Oakeshott's previous personal popularity, Lyne was still a comfortably safe National seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor. As expected,David Gillespie, who had been Oakeshott's opponent in 2010, easily reclaimed the seat for the Nationals.
| Image | Member | Party | Term | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Jim Eggins (1898–1952) | Country | 10 December 1949 – 28 January 1952 | Previously a member of theNew South Wales Legislative Council. Died in office | |
.jpg) | Philip Lucock (1916–1996) | Country | 22 March 1952 – 2 May 1975 | Retired | |
| National Country | 2 May 1975 – 19 September 1980 | ||||
 | Bruce Cowan (1926–2011) | National Country | 18 October 1980 – 16 October 1982 | Previously held theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly seat ofOxley. Retired | |
| Nationals | 16 October 1982 – 8 February 1993 | ||||
.jpg) | Mark Vaile (1956–) | 13 March 1993 – 30 July 2008 | Served as minister andDeputy Prime Minister underHoward. Resigned to retire from politics | ||
 | Rob Oakeshott (1969–) | Independent | 6 September 2008 – 5 August 2013 | Previously held theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly seat ofPort Macquarie. Retired | |
 | David Gillespie (1957–) | Nationals | 7 September 2013 – present | Served as minister underMorrison. Incumbent |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | David Gillespie | 46,661 | 43.51 | −5.84 | |
| Labor | Alex Simpson | 23,024 | 21.47 | −2.62 | |
| One Nation | Josephine Cashman | 8,502 | 7.93 | +7.93 | |
| Greens | Karl Attenborough | 8,422 | 7.85 | +1.34 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Mark Hornshaw | 6,824 | 6.36 | +0.56 | |
| Independent | Steve Attkins | 5,574 | 5.20 | +5.20 | |
| United Australia | Joel Putland | 4,421 | 4.12 | +0.07 | |
| Independent | Joanne Pearce | 3,820 | 3.56 | +3.56 | |
| Total formal votes | 107,248 | 93.41 | +2.48 | ||
| Informal votes | 7,563 | 6.59 | −2.48 | ||
| Turnout | 114,811 | 92.22 | −1.51 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| National | David Gillespie | 68,421 | 63.80 | −1.37 | |
| Labor | Alex Simpson | 38,827 | 36.20 | +1.37 | |
| Nationalhold | Swing | −1.37 | |||
Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.31°36′07″S152°16′37″E / 31.602°S 152.277°E /-31.602; 152.277