NAT 30.3%
Incumbent MP
- Katrina Hodgkinson, Member for Burrinjuck since 1999.
- Adrian Piccoli, Member for Murrumbidgee since 1999
Geography
South-western NSW. Cootamundra covers the towns of Cootamundra, Gundagai, Young, Cowra, West Wyalong and Narrandera, amongst others, in the area between Wagga Wagga, Yass, Griffith and Forbes. Cootamundra covers the Bland, Coolamon, Cootamundra, Cowra, Gundagai, Harden, Junee, Narrandera, Temora, Weddin and Young council areas.
Redistribution
Cootamundra is a seat made up of parts of the former seats of Murrumbidgee and Burrinjuck, due to the overall reduction of seats in western NSW. A majority of the seat was previously contained in Burrinjuck, with about three-eighths of the new seat coming from Murrumbidgee. The towns of Cootamundra, Gundagai, Harden, Young, Cowra and Grenfell were previously contained in Burrinjuck, while the towns of Junee, West Wyalong, Narrandera, Temora and Coolamon. Burrinjuck previously had a margin of 31.1%, and Murrumbidgee had a margin of 27.9%, while the new seat has a margin of 30.3%.
History
Cootamundra takes in parts of Burrinjuck and Murrumbidgee.
The electoral district of Burrinjuck existed from 1950 to 2015. It was a Labor seat from 1950 to 1988, a Liberal seat from 1988 to 1998, and a National Party seat since 1999.
Bill Sheahan first won Burrinjuck in 1950. He had held the seat of Yass since 1941, and the seat was renamed Burrinjuck in 1950. He served as a minister in the Labor government from 195o to 1965, and retired in 1973.
He was succeeded by his son Terry Sheahan. He served as a minister from 1980 until 1988, when he was defeated in Burrinjuck, and the Labor government lost power.
Burrinjuck was won in 1988 by Liberal candidate Alby Schultz. Schultz held the seat for ten years, and in 1998 resigned to run for the federal seat of Hume. He has held Hume ever since.
Burrinjuck was won in 1999 by National Party candidate Katrina Hodgkinson. She has held the seat ever since, serving as an Opposition frontbencher from 2003 to 2011, and as a minister since 2011.
Murrumbidgee was one of only two districts to have existed continuously since the first Legislative Assembly was elected in 1856. The seat was a two-member district from 1856 to 1859, a single-member district from 1859 to 1880, a two-member district until 1885, a three-member district from 1885 to 1894, a single-member district from 1894 to 1920, a three-member district from 1920 to 1927, and a single-member district from 1927 until its abolition at the 2015 election.
The seat was dominated by the ALP in the middle part of the last century, but has been held by the National Party since 1984.
In 1941, the sitting Country Party MP, Robert Hankinson, retired. The official Labor candidate was defeated by independent Labor candidate George Enticknap, who was then welcomed into the Labor caucus in the Parliament. He served as a minister from 1960 to 1965, when he retired.
Al Grassby won Murrumbidgee for the Labor Party at the 1965 election. He resigned from the seat in 1969 to take the federal seat of Riverina. He served as Minister for Immigration from 1972 to 1974, when he lost Riverina.
Lin Gordon won the 1970 Murrumbidgee by-election for the ALP. He served as a minister from 1976 until his retirement in 1984.
In 1984, Murrumbidgee was won by the National Party’s Adrian Cruickshank. He came third on primary votes, but preferences from the Liberal Party pushed him ahead of independent candidate Thomas Marriott. Marriott’s preferences elected Cruickshank over the Labor Party. He held the seat until his retirement in 1999.
Murrumbidgee has been held by the National Party’s Adrian Piccoli since 1999. He has served as deputy leader of the NSW National Party since 2008, and now serves as Minister for Education.
Candidates
- Elio Cacciotti (No Land Tax)
- Rod Therkelsen (Greens)
- Charlie Sheahan (Labor)
- Katrina Hodgkinson (Nationals)
- Philip Langfield (Christian Democratic Party)
Assessment
Cootamundra is a very safe Nationals seat.
2011 election result – Burrinjuck
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Katrina Hodgkinson | Nationals | 33,339 | 74.4 | +9.7 | 74.7 |
| Luna Zivadinovic | Labor | 6,653 | 14.8 | -14.3 | 16.7 |
| Iain Fyfe | Greens | 3,574 | 8.0 | +1.8 | 5.4 |
| Ann Woods | Christian Democrats | 1,262 | 2.8 | +2.8 | 3.2 |
2011 two-party-preferred result – Burrinjuck
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Katrina Hodgkinson | Nationals | 34,618 | 81.1 | +13.7 | 80.3 |
| Luna Zivadinovic | Labor | 8,093 | 18.9 | -13.7 | 19.7 |
2011 election result – Murrumbidgee
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Adrian Piccoli | Nationals | 31,414 | 73.4 | +10.2 |
| William Wood | Labor | 8,431 | 19.7 | -12.2 |
| George Benedyka | Greens | 1,577 | 3.7 | -1.2 |
| Fiona Bushby | Christian Democrats | 1,362 | 3.2 | +3.2 |
2011 two-party-preferred result – Murrumbidgee
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Adrian Piccoli | Nationals | 32,260 | 77.9 | +11.8 |
| William Wood | Labor | 9,149 | 22.1 | -11.8 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Cootamundra have been split into four parts: north-east (including Young and Cowra), north-west (including West Wyalong), south-east (including Cootamundra and Gundagai) and south-west (including Junee and Narrandera).
The Nationals won a large majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all four regions, ranging from 77% in the south-east to 84% in the north-west.
| Voter group | NAT 2PP % | Total | % of votes |
| North-East | 82.4 | 12,290 | 26.6 |
| South-West | 77.6 | 10,405 | 22.5 |
| South-East | 77.4 | 7,487 | 16.2 |
| North-West | 83.7 | 2,908 | 6.3 |
| Other votes | 81.5 | 13,084 | 28.3 |
My prediction: Easy National hold.
This seat lacks an obvious name. Cootamundra is just one small town among many in the electorate.
It bears some similarities to the old Lachlan, abolished at the redistribution before last. But that name doesn’t work here; the Lachlan river only flows through Cowra at the northeastern corner of the electorate.
Interestingly, its not the first time the name Cootamundra has been used for a district this large. It was a three member electorate in the PR days of the 1920s covering a broad swath of territory roughly the same size as the current incarnation. (Either side of that time it was a more compact single member district.)
Cootamundra does look like a seat made up of all the leftover bits and pieces that didn’t fit in with Wagga, Goulburn, Bathurst and Orange…..
Interesting that Labor were so competitive here until fairly recently, but now their vote in this area seems to have withered away.
Its almost against the law to vote labor in the bush now days
There used to be specific categories of people who made up the Labor vote in country seats. Railway workers, postal workers, timber workers, council labourers. All those categories have disappeared or radically declined. In NSW, Catholics, even country ones, also voted heavily Labor until fairly recently. That’s how Labor used to win seats like Burrinjuck and Murrumbidgee where we’d be lucky to poll 30% now. On the other hand all the coastal seats are moving towards Labor as these areas are colonised by urban refugees. So in 1972 Labor won Hume and Riverina, but didn’t come close to winning Richmond.