Electoral district of Northern Tablelands

Northern Tablelands is an electoral district

New South Wales Legislative Assembly electoral districts

The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is elected from 93 single-member electorates called districts.- Current districts :This is a list of districts for the 2011 state election.* Albury* Auburn* Ballina...

of the Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n state of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. It is currently represented by independent member Richard Torbay

Richard Torbay

George Richard Torbay MP , an Australian politician, is an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands since 1999. Torbay was the 30th Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, serving from 2007 until 2011, and was the first independent...

.

Northern Tablelands

Northern Tablelands, New South Wales

The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England region, stretching from the Moonbi Range in the south to...

is a 30,546 km² rural electorate, covering the uplands of northern New South Wales. It is centred on the university city of Armidale

Armidale, New South Wales

Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale Dumaresq Shire had a population of 19,485 people according to the 2006 census. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region...

; other towns included in the electorate are Inverell

Inverell, New South Wales

Inverell is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the Northern Tablelands. It has a temperate climate...

, Glen Innes

Glen Innes, New South Wales

Glen Innes is a parish and town on the Northern Tablelands, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and the Gwydir Highway...

, Tenterfield

Tenterfield, New South Wales

Tenterfield is a town in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the New England region at the intersection of the New England and Bruxner Highways. Tenterfield is a three-hour drive from Brisbane, 2.5 hours from Byron Bay, two hours from Armidale, New South Wales and 10 hours from Sydney....

and Uralla

Uralla, New South Wales

Uralla is a small town and on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way 465 kilometres north of Sydney and about 23 kilometres south west of the city of Armidale...

. The northern boundary of the electorate is the Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

border. At the 2003 election, there were 42,886 enrolled voters.

In 2007, the low level of population growth in the electorate led to Northern Tablelands being expanded, both to the west to take in Warialda

Warialda, New South Wales

Warialda is a town in the Northwest Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Gwydir Shire. Situated on the banks of the Warialda Creek, the town’s name means “Place of Wild Honey.” At the 2006 census, Warialda had a population of 1,206.- Transport :...

and Bingara

Bingara, New South Wales

Bingara is a small town on the Gwydir River in Murchison County in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. In 2006, Bingara had a population of 1,207 people. and is currently the Administrative centre for the Gwydir Shire that was created in 2003. It has a culturally homogeneous...

and to the south to take in Walcha

Walcha, New South Wales

Walcha is a parish and town at the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia.The town serves as the seat of Walcha Shire. Walcha is located 425 kilometres by road from Sydney at the intersection of the Oxley Highway and Thunderbolts Way...

and Nowendoc

Nowendoc, New South Wales

Nowendoc is a parish and village on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. The town is located 360 km north of the state capital, Sydney, 66 km south of Walcha and is in the Walcha Shire Local Government Area...

, increasing its area to 44,674 km². According to the report for the 2004 redistribution of electoral districts, it was estimated that the electoral district would have 48,942 electors on 29 April 2007.

History

Northern Tablelands was originally created in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

, replacing Armidale

Electoral district of Armidale

Armidale was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, originally created in 1894, partly replacing New England, and named after and including Armidale. In 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation, it was absorbed into Northern...

, Gough

Electoral district of Gough

Gough was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, which replaced Glen Innes and part of Gwydir in 1904 and was named after the Gough County, which includes the town of Glen Innes...

and Tenterfield

Electoral district of Tenterfield

Tenterfield was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, originally created in 1859, partly replacing New England and Macleay, and named after, and including, Tenterfield. In 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation, it was...

, and elected three members. It was held by the same three members throughout its first incarnation: inaugural Country Party

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

leader Michael Bruxner

Michael Bruxner

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Michael Frederick Bruxner KBE, DSO, JP was an Australian politician and soldier, serving for many years as Leader of the Country Party and its predecessors...

, state Minister for Education David Drummond, and Labor MP Alfred McClelland

Alfred McClelland

Alfred McClelland was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1920 until 1927, representing Northern Tablelands, and from 1930 to 1932, representing Dubbo...

, grandfather of current federal Attorney-General

Attorney-General of Australia

The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...

Robert McClelland

Robert McClelland (Australian politician)

Robert Bruce McClelland is the Attorney-General of Australia. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of theAustralian House of Representatives since March 1996, representing the Division of Barton, New South Wales...

. In 1927, it was divided into the single-member electorates of Armidale and Tenterfield. It was recreated in 1981, partly replacing Armidale and Tenterfield.

The first member after its recreation in 1981 was Bill McCarthy

Bill McCarthy (politician)

William John Patrick "Bill" McCarthy was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Armidale from 1978 to 1981, and Northern Tablelands from 1981 to 1987....

, an Labor member, who had previously been the member for the abolished electorate of Armidale. McCarthy was a popular member, and held the seat for Labor as the region trended increasingly conservative. McCarthy had developed serious health problems by the 1984 state election

New South Wales state election, 1984

Elections were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 24 March 1984. The Labor government led by Neville Wran won a fourth term in office, although with a reduced margin and a 7% swing against it....

, but was persuaded to recontest to maintain Labor control of the seat; he subsequently died in office in 1987. Labor endorsed McCarthy's widow, Thelma, at the subsequent by-election, but she was narrowly defeated by National Party

National Party of Australia

candidate Ray Chappell

Ray Chappell

Raymond Francis "Ray" Chappell is a former Australian politician. He was the National Party member for Northern Tablelands in the New South Wales Parliament from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995....

after a heavily-publicised campaign. Chappell was re-elected with little difficulty three times, but in the 1999 election

New South Wales state election, 1999

Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...

faced a challenge from the popular ex-mayor of Armidale, Richard Torbay

Richard Torbay

, standing as an independent. In a shock result Torbay won the seat with a comfortable margin, continuing a trend in NSW country areas for National Party candidates to be rejected in favour of local independents. In 2007, he was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly

Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is Shelley Hancock, who was elected on 3 May 2011...

, the first independent to fulfill the role since 1917.

Members

First incarnation (1920—1927, 3 members)
Member		Party	Term	\|Member	Party	Term
	Michael Bruxner Michael Bruxner Lieutenant Colonel Sir Michael Frederick Bruxner KBE, DSO, JP was an Australian politician and soldier, serving for many years as Leader of the Country Party and its predecessors...	Progressive Progressive Party (1920) The Progressive Party was a New South Wales political party that operated between 1920 and 1927, achieving representation in the Legislative Assembly due to proportional representation. The party attracted support from conservative voters in both rural and urban NSW. As a result, its policies were...	1920—1925 New South Wales state election, 1925 The 1925 New South Wales state election was held on 30 May 1925. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 27th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in multiple member constituencies with compulsory preferential single transferable vote usit the Hare Clark system)...		David Drummond	Progressive Progressive Party (1920) The Progressive Party was a New South Wales political party that operated between 1920 and 1927, achieving representation in the Legislative Assembly due to proportional representation. The party attracted support from conservative voters in both rural and urban NSW. As a result, its policies were...	1920—1925 New South Wales state election, 1925 The 1925 New South Wales state election was held on 30 May 1925. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 27th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in multiple member constituencies with compulsory preferential single transferable vote usit the Hare Clark system)...	Alfred McClelland Alfred McClelland Alfred McClelland was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1920 until 1927, representing Northern Tablelands, and from 1930 to 1932, representing Dubbo...	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1920—1927 New South Wales state election, 1927 The 1927 New South Wales state election to elect the 90 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly was held on 8 October 1927. During the previous parliament the voting system, which had been a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats and a single transferable vote , was changed...
		Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1925 New South Wales state election, 1925 The 1925 New South Wales state election was held on 30 May 1925. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 27th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in multiple member constituencies with compulsory preferential single transferable vote usit the Hare Clark system)... —1927 New South Wales state election, 1927 The 1927 New South Wales state election to elect the 90 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly was held on 8 October 1927. During the previous parliament the voting system, which had been a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats and a single transferable vote , was changed...		David Drummond	Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1925 New South Wales state election, 1925 The 1925 New South Wales state election was held on 30 May 1925. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 27th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in multiple member constituencies with compulsory preferential single transferable vote usit the Hare Clark system)... —1927 New South Wales state election, 1927 The 1927 New South Wales state election to elect the 90 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly was held on 8 October 1927. During the previous parliament the voting system, which had been a form of proportional representation with multi-member seats and a single transferable vote , was changed...

Second incarnation (1981—present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	Bill McCarthy Bill McCarthy (politician) William John Patrick "Bill" McCarthy was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Armidale from 1978 to 1981, and Northern Tablelands from 1981 to 1987....	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	1981 New South Wales state election, 1981 Elections were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 19 September 1981. The result was a second "Wranslide": a landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party under Neville Wran, in which the government increased its already sizeable majority.The Liberals suffered the double... —1987
	Ray Chappell Ray Chappell Raymond Francis "Ray" Chappell is a former Australian politician. He was the National Party member for Northern Tablelands in the New South Wales Parliament from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995....	National National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1987—1999 New South Wales state election, 1999 Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
	Richard Torbay Richard Torbay George Richard Torbay MP , an Australian politician, is an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands since 1999. Torbay was the 30th Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, serving from 2007 until 2011, and was the first independent...	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	1999 New South Wales state election, 1999 Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election... —present

Election results

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