NAT 18.1%
Incumbent MP
Mark Coulton, since 2007.
Geography
Parkes covers large parts of western NSW, stretching from Dubbo in the southeastern corner of the seat to Moree in the northeast and Broken Hill in the west. It covers twenty local government areas, namely Bland, Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Broken Hill, Central Darling, Cobar, Coonamble, Dubbo, Forbes, Gilgandra, Gunnedah, Lachlan, Narromine, Moree Plains, Narrabri, Parkes, Walgett, Warren and Warrumbungle.
Redistribution
Parkes lost the remainder of Gwydir council area to New England, and gained the Forbes, Parkes and Bland council areas from Riverina. These changes increased the Nationals margin from 17.8% to 18.1%.
History
The seat of Parkes was created as part of the expansion of the federal Parliament in 1984 as a seat in the west of NSW. It has always been held by the National Party. It shares its name with an earlier seat of Parkes, which was located in suburban Sydney from Federation until its abolition in 1969. The seat of Parkes is named after early NSW premier Henry Parkes, rather than the town of Parkes, which is not contained within the seat.
Parkes was first won in 1984 by National Party candidate Michael Cobb. Cobb held the seat for 14 years, retiring in 1998 after being convicted of offenses related to rorting his travel expenses. He was replaced by Tony Lawler, who held the seat for one term, retiring in 2001.
The seat was won in 2001 by John Cobb. Cobb served as a junior minister in the Howard government from 2005 to 2007. The redistribution before the 2006 election shifted the boundaries of Parkes towards the abolished seat of Gwydir, with much of the northwest transferred into Calare, and Cobb was elected as the Member for Calare. He was succeeded in Parkes by former Mayor of Gwydir Shire, Mark Coulton. Coulton has been re-elected four times.
Candidates
Sitting Nationals MP Mark Coulton is not running for re-election.
- Jamie Chaffey (Nationals)
- Maurice Davey (Family First)
Assessment
Parkes is a very safe Nationals seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Mark Coulton | Nationals | 43,931 | 49.3 | -1.4 | 49.0 |
| Jack Ayoub | Labor | 18,009 | 20.2 | -3.3 | 19.5 |
| Deborah Swinbourn | One Nation | 6,662 | 7.5 | +7.5 | 7.7 |
| Peter Rothwell | Liberal Democrats | 5,723 | 6.4 | -1.6 | 6.4 |
| Trish Frail | Greens | 4,214 | 4.7 | +0.6 | 4.7 |
| Derek Hardman | Indigenous – Aboriginal Party | 4,466 | 5.0 | +5.0 | 4.2 |
| Petrus Van Der Steen | United Australia | 2,372 | 2.7 | -3.6 | 2.6 |
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers | 2.1 | ||||
| Stuart Howe | Independent | 2,191 | 2.5 | +2.5 | 2.0 |
| Benjamin Fox | Informed Medical Options | 1,512 | 1.7 | +1.7 | 1.4 |
| Others | 0.3 | ||||
| Informal | 7,421 | 7.7 | +1.8 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Mark Coulton | Nationals | 60,433 | 67.8 | +0.9 | 68.1 |
| Jack Ayoub | Labor | 28,647 | 32.2 | -0.9 | 31.9 |
Booths have been divided into five parts. Polling places in the Dubbo and Broken Hill urban areas have been grouped together, and the remaining booths have been split into central, east and west.
The Nationals won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in four out of five areas, ranging from 63.6% in Dubbo to 71.8% in the east. Labor won 57.5% in Broken Hill.
| Voter group | NAT 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 68.5 | 16,253 | 15.4 |
| East | 71.8 | 13,182 | 12.5 |
| Dubbo | 63.6 | 9,258 | 8.8 |
| West | 70.7 | 6,801 | 6.4 |
| Broken Hill | 42.5 | 3,816 | 3.6 |
| Pre-poll | 69.2 | 44,762 | 42.4 |
| Other votes | 70.2 | 11,480 | 10.9 |
Election results in Parkes at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Nationals and Labor.
Question: since Broken Hill uses SA time, do polling places there open and close half an hour after they do in the rest of Parkes (west of Broken Hill)?
I think so
I’d say so.