Division of Charlton

The Division of Charlton was an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was created in 1984 and is named for Matthew Charlton, who was Leader of the Australian Labor Party 1922–28.

Charlton
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Charlton (green) in New South Wales
Created1984
Abolished2016
NamesakeMatthew Charlton
Area688 km2 (265.6 sq mi)
DemographicProvincial

The division was located in the Hunter region of New South Wales, including the coal-mining towns of Cardiff and Wallsend as well as Toronto, Morisset, Cooranbong, Brightwaters, Windermere Park, Sunshine, Glendale and Warners Bay.

The last Member for Charlton, from the 2013 federal election, was Pat Conroy, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Under the original proposed redistribution for the next federal election, the old Division of Hunter was to be abolished. Since Hunter is an original Federation electorate, the Australian Electoral Commission's guidelines for redistributions required it to make every effort to preserve the Hunter name. To that end, the Commission proposed renaming Charlton to Hunter.[1][2]

The final plan, however, saw Charlton abolished, with Hunter pushed slightly eastward to absorb much of Charlton's former territory.[3] Although most of the new Hunter's voters came from the former Charlton, Conroy stood down in favour of the member for the old Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon. Conroy contested and won the neighbouring seat of Shortland.

History

Charlton was first created in 1984. Much of its territory came from Hunter, which Matthew Charlton held from 1910 to 1928. From its inception, it had been a safe seat for Labor. The Hunter Region is one of the few areas outside capital cities where Labor has consistently done well.

The most prominent members were Bob Brown, a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, and Greg Combet, a former secretary of the ACTU from 2000 to 2007, and a minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments.

During the 2013 federal election campaign, the Liberal Party of Australia endorsed Kevin Baker as their candidate for the division.[4] However, Baker was forced to end his campaign on 21 August 2013 due to controversy over inappropriate content on a car enthusiasts' website that he hosted. The Australian Electoral Commission had closed candidate nominations by the time Baker abandoned his campaign. The Liberals did not field a replacement candidate in the election. However, Baker was still listed on ballot papers as the Liberal candidate, as they had already been printed at the time of Baker's resignation from the campaign;[5] in excess of 24,500 electors gave him their first preference vote.[6]

Members
Image Member Party Term Notes
  Bob Brown
(1933–)		 Labor 1 December 1984 –
31 August 1998		 Previously held the Division of Hunter. Served as minister under Hawke and Keating. Retired. Daughter is Kelly Hoare
  Kelly Hoare
(1963–)		 Labor 3 October 1998 –
17 October 2007		 Lost preselection and retired. Father is Bob Brown
  Greg Combet
(1958–)		 Labor 24 November 2007 –
5 August 2013		 Served as minister under Rudd and Gillard. Retired
  Pat Conroy
(1979–)		 Labor 7 September 2013 –
2 July 2016		 Transferred to the Division of Shortland after Charlton was abolished in 2016

Election results
Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Charlton

References
  1. Australian Electoral Commission to abolish Federal NSW seat of Hunter: ABC 16 October 2015
  2. Draft federal redistribution of New South Wales: Poll Bludger
  3. http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/guide/hunt/
  4. "Libs announce candidate for seat of Charlton". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  5. "Liberal candidate Kevin Baker quits race for Charlton over lewd website". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 20 August 2013.
  6. "Charlton, NSW". Election 2013. Australian Electoral Commission. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013.

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