Hunter – Australia 2016

ALP 5.7%

Incumbent MP

• Joel Fitzgibbon, member for Hunter since 1996.
• Pat Conroy, member for Charlton since 2013.

Geography
Hunter covers inland parts of the Hunter region, including western parts of the City of Lake Macquarie, a majority of Cessnock council area, as well as the entirety of the Muswellbrook and Singleton council areas. A majority of the seat’s population lies in the Lake Macquarie council area, with the bulk of the remainder in the Cessnock area.

Redistribution
Hunter is effectively an amalgamation of the former seats of Hunter and Charlton, with roughly 50% of the population in the new seat coming from each of the old seats. The name ‘Charlton’ has been retired as an electorate name.

The seat of Hunter lost the Upper Hunter Shire to New England and lost the remainder of Mid-Western Regional Council to Parkes. Hunter previously covered the town of Kurri Kurri and parts of Maitland, and all these areas were lost to Paterson.

Hunter gained most of Charlton, except for areas close to the Newcastle centre, which were divided between Shortland and Newcastle.

Charlton previously had a Labor margin of 9.2%, while Hunter had a margin of 3.7%. The new seat has a margin of 5.7%.

History – Hunter
Hunter is an original Federation seat, and has been held by Labor for most of its history. The seat was first won by Prime Minister Edmund Barton in 1901. Barton resigned as Prime Minister and Member for Hunter in 1903 to take a seat on the High Court, and Hunter was won at the following election by Free Trader Frank Liddell. Liddell held the seat at the 1906 election, but lost in 1910.

The seat was won in 1910 by the ALP’s Matthew Charlton. Charlton served as the ALP’s leader from 1922 to 1928, retiring at the 1928 election. He was succeeded by Rowley James, elected as a Labor candidate. James held the seat for thirty years, although he served as a member of Jack Lang’s breakaway party from 1931 to 1936, when he was readmitted to the ALP.

James retired in 1958, and was replaced by Labor leader HV Evatt. Evatt had previously held the Sydney seat of Barton, but judged it to be too marginal and moved to the safer Hunter.

Evatt resigned as Labor leader and Member for Hunter in 1960, and the by-election was won by Bert James, son of Rowley. The younger James held Hunter for twenty years, retiring in 1980.

He was succeeded by the ALP’s Bob Brown. Brown moved to the new seat of Charlton in 1984, and was succeeded in Hunter by former Mayor of Cessnock, Eric Fitzgibbon. Fitzgibbon held the seat for twelve years before retiring in 1996.

The seat was won in 1996 by Joel Fitzgibbon, son of the previous MP. Fitzgibbon junior has held Hunter since 1996. He served as Defence Minister from 2007 to 2009, and briefly served as a minister again in 2013.

History – Charlton
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. He served as Minister for Climate Change from the 2010 election until June 2013, when he stepped down.

Combet retired in 2013, and the seat was won by Labor’s Pat Conroy.

Candidates
Pat Conroy, the sitting Labor MP for Charlton, will be contesting the neighbouring seat of Shortland.

• Ruth Rogers (Nationals)
• John Harvey (Independent)
• Joel Fitzgibbon (Labor)
• Arjay Martin (Independent)
• Peter Morris (Greens)
• Richard Stretton (Christian Democratic Party)
• John Warham (Independent)
• Cordelia Troy (Independent)

Assessment
While Hunter is a relatively marginal seat in its new form, and could be vulnerable to the Coalition in future elections, it seems likely that Labor will retain the seat comfortably, considering how tardy the Liberal and National parties have been in choosing a candidate.

2013 result – Hunter

2013 two-party-preferred result – Hunter

2013 result – Charlton

2013 two-party-preferred result – Charlton

Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into six parts.

A majority of the seat’s population is contained within the City of Lake Macquarie, and these areas have been split into central, north and south. The remaining booths were grouped according to local government boundaries: Cessnock, Muswellbrook and Singleton.

The ALP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in the four largest areas, with a vote ranging from 52% in southern Lake Macquarie to 67% in northern Lake Macquarie.

The Nationals won 53.6% in Singleton and 52.2% in Muswellbrook.

The Palmer United Party came third in both Hunter and Charlton, with a vote ranging from 6.6% in Muswellbrook to 12.6% in Lake Macquarie South.