Division of Lyne

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The Division of Lyne is an Australian electoral division located in the State of New South Wales. It lies on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales and includes parts of the Local Government Areas of the City of Greater Taree, Port Macquarie-Hastings and Kempsey Shire. Major population centres include Port Macquarie, Taree, Wauchope, Laurieton, Wingham, and parts of Kempsey.

The seat is named after Sir William Lyne, Premier of New South Wales at the time of Federation and subsequently a minister in early Australian conservative governments. William Lyne was commissioned by the first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun to form the inaugural Federal Government. He was unable to attract sufficient support to form a cabinet and returned the commission. The unsuccessful commissioning of Lyne is known as The Hopetoun Blunder.

The Division of Lyne was created in a redistribution in 1949 and has been represented by the Australian Country Party and its subsequent derivatives the National Country Party and the National Party of Australia since its inception. This reflects the area's history as a strongly conservative and rural region. The area has recently undergone significant demographic changes with the arrival of a large number of retired people and city dwellers seeking a sea-change. Despite these changes the Australian Labor Party has made little headway in increasing its vote.

Its current Member of Parliament is Hon. Mark Vaile, the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, the leader of the National Party of Australia and the Minister for Trade. He holds Lyne with a 13% margin.

[edit] Members

Member	Party	Term
James Eggins	Country Party of Australia	1949 - 1952
Philip Lucock	Country Party/National Country Party	1952 - 1980
Bruce Cowan	National Country Party/National Party of Australia	1980 - 1993
Mark Vaile	National Party of Australia	1993 -