Monaro – NSW 2023

NAT 11.6%

Incumbent MP
Nichole Overall, since 2022.

• Geography
• Redistribution
• History
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• 2019 results
• Booth breakdown
• Results maps

Geography
Southeastern NSW. Monaro covers inland parts of southeastern NSW to the south and east of the ACT. The seat includes Queanbeyan, Cooma and the Snowy Mountains. It covers the Snowy Monaro and Queanbeyan-Palerang council areas.

Redistribution
No change.

History
The seat of Monaro was first created in 1858, and apart from three terms in the 1920s, Monaro has existed as an electoral district ever since.

The seat was abolished in 1920 when proportional representation was introduced, and Monaro was included in the three-member Goulburn district.

When Monaro was introduced in 1927 it was won by the Country Party’s William Hedges. Hedges held the seat until 1941, when he lost to the ALP’s John Seiffert by 181 votes.

Prior to the 1950 election, Seiffert was disendorsed by the ALP after he voted against the party’s candidate for a Legislative Council vacancy. He was re-elected in Monaro without an official Labor opponent, and was eventually readmitted to the party. He continued to serve in Monaro until his retirement in 1965.

In 1965, Seiffert retired, and his son ran as the Labor candidate, losing to the Liberal candidate Steve Mauger in a three-cornered contest, with Country Party preferences electing the Liberal by only 268 votes. Mauger held the seat until his retirement in 1976, serving as a junior minister for the final year of his term.

In 1976, another three-cornered contest saw Labor candidate John Akister win despite the combined Country Party and Liberal Party vote adding up to a majority. Akister held the seat until 1988, serving as a minister from 1984 to 1988. In 1988, he lost his seat in the anti-Labor landslide to the National Party’s Peter Cochran.

Cochran held the seat until 1999, when he retired. He was succeeded by fellow National Peter Webb. Webb held the seat for one term, and lost to the ALP’s Steve Whan in 2003.

Whan was re-elected in 2007, and served as a minister in the Labor government from 2009 to 2011.

In 2011, Whan lost Monaro to Nationals candidate John Barilaro with an 8.4% swing. Whan was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Legislative Council in June 2011. Whan subsequently resigned from his upper house seat to recontest Monaro in 2015, but again lost to Barilaro.

Barilaro was appointed to the ministry in 2014, and he was elected Nationals leader (and deputy premier) in 2016. Barilaro was re-elected in 2019, and retired in 2021.

The 2022 by-election was won by Nationals candidate Nichole Overall.

Candidates

Assessment
Monaro has been Labor-held as recently as 2011, and they could well win it if they were in a strong position, but it seems likely the Nationals will hold this seat in 2023.

2019 result

2019 two-party-preferred result

2022 by-election result

2022 by-election two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths in Monaro have been split into four areas. Polling places in the former Queanbeyan, Palerang and Cooma-Monaro council areas have been grouped together. Polling places in the former Bombala and Snowy River council areas have been grouped as “South”. A majority of the seat’s population lives in the former City of Queanbeyan.

At the 2019 election, the Nationals won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all four areas, ranging from 57.1% in Queanbeyan to 67.6% in the south.

The Greens came third, with their vote peaking at 11.4% in Palerang. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers polled slightly less than the Greens, with their vote peaking at 15.2% in the south.

At the 2022 by-election, the Nationals won the two-party-preferred vote in three out of four areas, ranging from 51.1% in Palerang to 63.2% in the south. Labor polled 51.1% in Queanbeyan.

The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 6.4% in Cooma-Monaro to 12.8% in Palerang.

2019 booth breakdown

2022 by-election booth breakdown

Election results in Monaro at the 2019 NSW state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Nationals and Labor.

Election results at the 2022 Monaro by-election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Nationals, Labor and the Greens.

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