The Division of Robertson is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Geography

Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined since 1984, at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History

The division was proclaimed at Federation in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election in 1901. The division was named for the fifth Premier of New South Wales, Sir John Robertson. The Division of Robertson was originally anchored in rural central NSW, encompassing the area around

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and G ...

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being th ...

and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. It moved eastward to take in

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

in 1913, and since then it has been moved further eastward in successive redistributions. By 1969, it had moved to approximately its current position on the Central Coast, immediately north of the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney ...

, and now includes none of its original territory. Nonetheless, it has retained the name of Robertson, in part because the

is required to preserve the names of original electorates where possible. Robertson encompasses the towns of

Woy Woy Woy Woy is a coastal town in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the southern reaches of Brisbane Water north of Sydney. It is a population centre within the local government area. Woy Woy is located in the nor ...

, Gosford and

Terrigal Terrigal is a coastal town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the local government area. History Terrigal was first settled in 1826 by European Settler John Gray, ...

. Two of its members have served as Senators prior or subsequent to their tenures on Robertson. Former Senator Belinda Neal was elected in Robertson in 2007 and Deborah O'Neill became a Senator shortly after losing Robertson in 2013. In recent years, Robertson has been a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

electorate in federal elections, taking on a character similar to

mortgage belt The Mortgage belt is a term used in Australian politics to signify residential suburbs which have a high concentration of families mortgaging their homes. Often the belt covers areas where homes could be considered more affordable yet the cost o ...

seats on Sydney's outer fringe. It has been held by a member of the party of government since the 1983 federal election. In addition, after Mike Kelly became the first opposition MP elected to represent Eden-Monaro (in 2016) since 1975, Robertson currently holds the record for the longest-running bellwether seat in Australia. The current Member for Robertson, since the 2022 federal election, is Gordon Reid, a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms th ...

The new bellwether

Ahead of the 2016 election,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

psephologist

Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst. Early years and background Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gree ...

listed Robertson in his election guide as one of eleven which he classed as "

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

" electorates. Prior to the 2016 election, the seat of Eden-Monaro was long regarded as Australia's most famous bellwether. From the 1972 election until the 2013 election – over 40 years – Eden-Monaro was won by the party that also won government. No longer the nation's famous bellwether seat after the Labor opposition won it at the 2016 election, the nation's new longest-running bellwether is Robertson – continually won by the party that won government since the 1983 election.The Bellwether Contests: Antony Green ABC
/ref> This trend in Robertson would continue in the 2022 election, with Labor winning the seat and Government.

Members

Election results

Graphical summary

References

External links

Division of Robertson - Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1901 1901 establishments in Australia Central Coast (New South Wales)