City of Campbelltown, New South Wales

The City of Campbelltown is a Local Government Area in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located about 55 km south west of the Sydney central business district.

1 Suburbs in the local government area
2 History and Growth
3 Politics
- 3.1 State Politics
- 3.2 Federal Politics
4 External links

[edit] Suburbs in the local government area

Suburbs in the City of Campbelltown are:

[edit] History and Growth

Campbelltown was founded in 1820, named after Elizabeth Macquarie née Campbell, wife of the then Governor of New South Wales Lachlan Macquarie. The town was one of a series of south-western settlements being established by Macquarie at that time. Others include Ingleburn and Liverpool.

Campbelltown Council was originally incorporated in 1882. The present boundaries of the City of Campbelltown were largely formed in 1949, following the amalgamation of the Municipalities of Ingleburn (incorporated in April 1896) and Campbelltown, as part of a rationalisation of local government areas across New South Wales following World War II.

Campbelltown was designated in the early 1960s in the Sydney Region Outline Plan, prepared by the Planning Commission of New South Wales as a satellite city, and a regional capital for the south west of Sydney. There was extensive building and population growth in the intervening time and the government surrounded the township with areas which were set aside for public and private housing and industry.

Campbelltown was declared a City by the Hon. P.H. Morton MLA, Minister for Local Government and Highways, on May 4, 1968. That same day saw the arrival of the first electric train to Campbelltown from Sydney.

As a City, Campbelltown honoured the 1st Signals Regiment (now the 1st Joins Support Unit) with the medieval custom of the Freedom of the City. The Mayor, Alderman Clive Tregear, wanted to recognise the contribution to the units based at the Ingleburn Army Barracks. The Regiment marched through Campbelltown until it got transferred to Queensland in the late 1980's.

Campbelltown was presented with its own coat of arms in 1969. The Arms were based those on the Arms of the Campbell Family in Scotland.

Campbelltown today acts as a significant regional centre for southwestern Sydney with a rail line, major hospital, university and several shopping centres.

[edit] Politics

Campbelltown City Council consists of 15 Councillors, elected at large by Single Transferable Vote. The council is composed of seven Labor councillors (Aaron Rule, Mollie Thomas, Brenton Banfield, Steven Chaytor, Anoulack Chanthivong, Rudi Kolkman and Meg Oates), two Liberal councillors (Jai Rowell and Paul Hawker), one Greens councillor (Julie Bourke), two councillors from Russell Matheson's Community First Team (Russell Matheson and Paul Lake) and one councillor from each of these minor parties: Totally Locally Committed Party (Fred Borg), Bob Thompson's Independent Team (Bob Thompson) and Community Development 'Environment' Save Campbelltown Koalas (Sue Dobson). At the most recent elections in March 2004, the Labor ticket increased its presence from five councillors to seven, with a swing of 15%, while the Liberals gained an extra seat on the Council and the Greens retained their single seat. The current Mayor, Aaron Rule, and the Deputy Mayor, Mollie Thomas, were elected unopposed by their fellow councillors on September 26, 2006. The mayoralty is rotated between Labor and the Matheson-Lake team.

Two federal electorates overlap the City of Campbelltown, Werriwa and Macarthur. Four state electorates overlap Campbelltown: Camden, Campbelltown, Macquarie Fields and the Wollondilly.

[edit] State Politics

Labor candidates have dominated state and federal elections in Campbelltown over recent decades, and currently hold all three state electorates and one of the two federal electorates in Campbelltown.

The seat of Camden predominantly covers the neighbouring Camden Council, only including some fringe areas of Campbelltown, and is currently held by Labor's Geoff Corrigan, the former Mayor of Camden. The seat was won off the Liberal Party at the 2003 State election.

The seat of Campbelltown covers southern parts of the City of Campbelltown, and is held by Labor's Graham West. The seat was previously held by Michael Knight, prior to his resignation in 2001, which triggered a by-election, won by Labor candidate Graham West.

The seat of Macquarie Fields is held by Labor's Steven Chaytor, a former advisor to Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who gained the seat in a September 2005 by-election, triggered by the resignation of senior NSW Minister Craig Knowles following the retirement of Premier Bob Carr. On January 19, 2007, Steven Chaytor withdrew as candidate for Macquarie Fields for the March 2007 election, following his conviction for assaulting his former girlfriend. He has lodged an appeal of his conviction. The new Labor candidate for Macquarie Fields for 2007 is Dr Andrew McDonald.

[edit] Federal Politics

Campbelltown is divided between two federal electorates, with the northern half of the city being taken in by the Division of Werriwa and the southern half of the city being taken in by the Division of Macarthur.

Werriwa has been held by the Australian Labor Party for over 70 years, and was held by Leader of the Opposition Mark Latham prior to his resignation in early 2005. Following this by-election in March 2005, Labor's Chris Hayes was elected to the House of Representatives.

Macarthur has been traditionally a bellwether seat, which shifted northwards into Campbelltown following the 1998 redistribution. While this redistribution made the seat, held at the time by former NSW Liberal Premier John Fahey, notionally Labor, the nomination of former ultra-marathon runner Pat Farmer for the Liberal party helped defeat the Labor Party, and the seat has now become a safe Liberal seat.

[edit] External links

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