ALP 4.7%
Incumbent MP
Kate Washington, since 2015.
Geography
Hunter. Port Stephens covers most of Port Stephens local government area and small parts of the City of Newcastle and Great Lakes local government area. The seat covers Mayfield, Raymond Terrace, Nelsons Bay, Shoal Bay, Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens. It covers the entire shore of Port Stephens itself.
History
Port Stephens has existed as a district since 1988. It was held by the ALP continuously from 1988 to 2007, when it was won by the Liberal Party. Labor won the seat back in 2015.
The seat was won in 1988 by the ALP’s Bob Martin. He won the seat by only 90 votes, and the result was thrown out later in 1988. The court considered the handing out of government cheques to local community groups to be bribery. The ensuing by-election saw Martin win with 63% of the two-party vote.
Martin served as a minister in the Labor government from 1995 to 1999, when he retired.
Martin was succeeded by former Port Stephens mayor John Bartlett, running for the ALP. He was re-elected in 2003, and retired in 2007.
In 2007, the Liberal candidate, Port Stephens mayor Craig Baumann, defeated Labor candidate Jim Arneman by 68 votes. It was the closest result in the entire state. Baumann was comfortably re-elected in 2011.
Craig Baumann stepped aside from the Liberal Party in 2014 following allegations at ICAC that he had accepted donations from prohibited donors in 2007.
Baumann retired at the 2015 election, and Labor’s Kate Washington won.
Candidates
- Jaimie Abbott (Liberal)
- Bradley Jelfs (Sustainable Australia)
- Kate Washington (Labor)
- Bill Doran (Independent)
- Maureen Magee (Greens)
- Theresa Taylor (Animal Justice)
Assessment
Port Stephens is a marginal Labor seat.
2015 result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Kate Washington | Labor | 22,161 | 47.1 | +20.4 |
| Ken Jordan | Liberal | 19,265 | 41.0 | -12.1 |
| Rochelle Flood | Greens | 3,132 | 6.7 | -1.4 |
| Joe Shirley | No Land Tax | 1,331 | 2.8 | +2.8 |
| Peter Arena | Christian Democrats | 1,149 | 2.4 | +0.2 |
| Informal | 1,610 | 3.3 |
2015 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Kate Washington | Labor | 24,221 | 54.7 | +19.5 |
| Ken Jordan | Liberal | 20,045 | 45.3 | -19.5 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Port Stephens have been split into four parts. Polling places in the town of Raymond Terrace have been grouped together, as have those on the Port Stephens peninsula and on the north shore of Port Stephens. The remaining booths were grouped as “Central”.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in the centre (58.9%) and Raymond Terrace (67.5%), while the Liberal Party polled 50.6% in Port Stephens and 52.6% on the north shore.
| Voter group | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 58.9 | 10,886 | 23.1 |
| Port Stephens | 49.4 | 10,767 | 22.9 |
| Raymond Terrace | 67.5 | 5,506 | 11.7 |
| North Shore | 47.4 | 3,475 | 7.4 |
| Other votes | 50.9 | 7,821 | 16.6 |
| Pre-poll | 54.3 | 8,583 | 18.2 |
Two-party-preferred votes in Port Stephens at the 2015 NSW state election
Comfortable ALP retain. Expect this to be a massive swing due to the Facebook trolling stuff-ups surrounding the Liberal candidate. Expect a lot of finger pointing within the Liberal camp after the election as they have thrown loads of resources at this seat and now have pretty much stuffed it all up. Jaimie Abbott always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
I think Jaimie Abbott will take this seat off Kate Washington. She’s a much better performer, when our side by side Jaimie runs rings over Washington who isn’t as great at speaking or doing media interviews. Only 2000 votes in it to win.
Port Stephens had a massive swing last election, relating to the ICAC, although Labor should hold this in 2019 – on these boundaries Port Stephens is still a key battleground.