Wallsend – NSW 2015

ALP 6.3%

Incumbent MP
Sonia Hornery, since 2007.

Geography
Hunter. Wallsend covers western suburbs of the City of Newcastle and a small part of the City of Lake Macquarie. Suburbs include Cardiff Heights, Rankin Park, New Lambton, Callaghan, Jesmond, Shortland, Wallsend, Maryland and Elermore Vale.

Map of Wallsend's 2011 and 2015 boundaries. 2011 boundaries marked as red lines, 2015 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of Wallsend’s 2011 and 2015 boundaries. 2011 boundaries marked as red lines, 2015 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Redistribution
Wallsend lost Argenton to Lake Macquarie and a small area to Charlestown on its southern boundary. Wallsend then gained more of Waratah from Newcastle and Minmi and Tarro from Cessnock. These changes cut the Labor margin from 6.6% to 6.3%.

History
The current incarnation of Wallsend has existed since 1968. Wallsend existed at three other periods dating back to 1894. It has always been held by Labor MPs.

Wallsend was first won in 1968 by Ken Booth. He had held the seat of Kurri Kurri since a 1960 by-election. He had succeeded his father George, who had sat in Parliament from 1925 until his death in 1960. Kurri Kurri was abolished in 1968.

The younger Booth served as Treasurer from 1981 to 1988, when the ALP lost power. Booth died later that year.

The 1988 by-election was won by John Mills. He held the seat for the ALP until his retirement in 2007.

Wallsend was won in 2007 by Newcastle councillor Sonia Hornery. She served as a parliamentary secretary from 2007 to 2009, when she was removed for opposing the state government’s privatisation plans. Hornery was re-elected in 2011.

Candidates

Assessment
Wallsend is a safe Labor seat.

2011 election result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Sonia Hornery Labor 17,275 39.6 -11.5 38.9
Chris Dolan Liberal 12,862 29.5 +4.1 29.1
Shayne Connell Independent 6,147 14.1 +14.1 12.0
Keith Parsons Greens 3,617 8.3 -3.9 8.6
Michael Jackson Independent 2,013 4.6 +4.6 3.9
Andrew Weatherstone Christian Democrats 877 2.0 -2.7 2.2
Ray Broderick Family First 864 2.0 +2.0 1.7
Others 3.6

2011 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Sonia Hornery Labor 20,314 56.6 -9.2 59.9
Chris Dolan Liberal 15,574 43.4 +9.2 40.1
Polling places in Wallsend at the 2011 NSW state election.
Polling places in Wallsend at the 2011 NSW state election.

Booth breakdown
Booths in Wallsend have been split into four parts: central, east, north and south.

The ALP’s two-party-preferred vote ranged from 51.8% in the east to 62.4% in the centre.

Independent candidate Shayne Connell came third, with a vote ranging from 8.4% in the east to 16.3% in the south. There are some booths in the north and east where he wasn’t standing, due to the redistribution.

The Greens came fourth, with a vote ranging from 6% in the north to 11.5% in the east.

Voter group ALP 2PP % IND % GRN % Total % of votes
Central 62.4 12.9 7.8 10,889 22.9
South 52.3 16.3 8.1 9,890 20.8
East 51.8 8.4 11.5 8,516 17.9
North 59.4 13.9 6.0 7,129 15.0
Other votes 55.3 8.9 9.3 11,100 23.4
Two-party-preferred votes in Wallsend at the 2011 NSW state election.
Two-party-preferred votes in Wallsend at the 2011 NSW state election.
Primary votes for independent candidate Shayne Connell in Wallsend at the 2011 NSW state election.
Primary votes for independent candidate Shayne Connell in Wallsend at the 2011 NSW state election.

4 COMMENTS

  3. Hi Anton,

    Sorry, I didn’t get a comment from you. I’ve had someone else complain about comments disappearing – unfortunately I can’t explain it.

Comments are closed.