Charlton – Australia 2013

ALP 12.7%

Incumbent MP
Greg Combet, since 2007.

Geography
Charlton is centred on those parts of Lake Macquarie council area lying to the west of Lake Macquarie. Major centres include Toronto, Cardiff and Morriset. It also includes western parts of the City of Newcastle, including Wallsend and Elermore Vale.

History
Charlton was created as part of the expansion of the House of Representatives in 1984. It has always been held by the ALP, and was held by members of the same family for its first 23 years.

The seat was first won in 1984 by the ALP’s Bob Brown. Brown had previously held the state seat of Cessnock from 1978 to 1980, and the federal seat of Hunter from 1980 to 1984. He served as Minister for Land Transport from 1988 to 1993.

Brown retired in 1988 and was succeeded by his daughter Kelly Hoare. Hoare was re-elected in 2001 and 2004 but was challenged for preselection in 2007 by ACTU secretary Greg Combet, who was installed by the ALP’s national executive. Combet was elected in 2007 with 62.9% of the two-party-preferred vote.

Combet was re-elected in 2010, and has served as Minister for Climate Change since the 2010 election.

Candidates

  • Pat Conroy (Labor)
  • Kevin Baker (Liberal)
  • Steve Camilleri (Christian Democratic Party)
  • Dessie Kocher (Greens)
  • Brian Burston (One Nation)
  • Bronwyn Reid (Palmer United Party)
  • Trevor Anthoney (Bullet Train For Australia)

Assessment
Charlton is a safe Labor seat.

2010 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Greg Combet ALP 44,159 53.15 +0.09
John McDonald LIB 25,514 30.71 -0.89
Ian McKenzie GRN 7,339 8.83 +0.75
Patrick Barry IND 2,846 3.43 +1.94
Mitchell Pickstone CDP 2,341 2.82 +0.42
Ann Lawler CEC 881 1.06 +0.71

2010 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Greg Combet ALP 52,064 62.67 -0.24
John McDonald LIB 31,016 37.33 +0.24
Polling places in Charlton at the 2010 federal election. Cardiff-Edgeworth in green, Morriset in blue, Toronto in yellow, Wallsend in red. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in Charlton at the 2010 federal election. Cardiff-Edgeworth in green, Morriset in blue, Toronto in yellow, Wallsend in red. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into four areas. From north to south, these are Wallsend, Cardiff-Edgeworth, Toronto and Morriset. Wallsend covers those polling places in the City of Newcastle, while the remainder lie in the City of Lake Macquarie.

The ALP won a majority in all four areas, varying from 55.9% in Morisset to 67.6% in Cardiff-Edgeworth.

Voter group GRN % ALP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
Cardiff-Edgeworth 8.14 67.56 21,848 26.30
Toronto 8.71 63.52 18,140 21.83
Wallsend 9.68 65.28 17,187 20.69
Morisset 8.77 55.89 8,989 10.82
Other votes 9.03 56.38 16,916 20.36
Two-party-preferred votes in Charlton at the 2010 federal election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Charlton at the 2010 federal election.
Two-party-preferred votes in northern parts of Charlton at the 2010 federal election.
Two-party-preferred votes in northern parts of Charlton at the 2010 federal election.

13 COMMENTS

  3. I’ve seen some polling in the 4 Hunter seats which shows that the area is subject to a big swing at the next election.

  5. Malcolm
    It will be interesting to see whether Piper (the indie for Lake Macquarie) puts his hand up this time.

  8. Will the Liberal party disendorse their candidate?
    What impact will this have on the poll?
    Will Kevin Baker still run as an independent?
    I wonder what Tony said when he received the phone call 🙂

  11. Abbott had an opporunity to show leadership on this and sack him but he coudn’t just said good on him for taking the site down. Absolutely appalling leadership

  12. “The Liberals will go into the election without an endorsed candidate for the Hunter region seat of Charlton, held by Labor on a margin of 12.7% and to be vacated at the election by the retirement of Greg Combet”. Source: Pollbludger

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