| Robertson Australian House of Representatives Division |
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|---|---|
Division of Robertson (green) in New South Wales |
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| Created: | 1901 |
| MP: | Deborah O'Neill |
| Party: | Labor |
| Namesake: | John Robertson |
| Area: | 978 km² (378 sq mi) |
| Demographic: | Provincial |
The Division of Robertson is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is located on the Central Coast, immediately north of the Hawkesbury River. It encompasses the towns of Woy Woy, Gosford and Terrigal.
The Division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 75 divisions to be contested at the first Federal election. The Division was named after Sir John Robertson, fifth Premier of New South Wales. In recent years, Robertson has been a bellwether electorate in federal elections. The seat has a perfect record of voting for the party winning government since 1983.
In the 2007 federal election, the Division was contested by the incumbent Jim Lloyd, the former federal Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, and the Labor candidate Belinda Neal, who unsuccessfully contested the seat in the 1998 federal election after resigning from the Senate. Neal ultimately won with a majority of just 184 votes.[1]
The Liberal Party preselected local policeman Darren Jameson to contest the seat at the 2010 federal election, whilst the Labor Party preselected University of Newcastle lecturer Deborah O'Neill, who defeated Neal at preselection on 6 March 2010 following a series of controversial actions by Neal during the term.[2].
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Willis | Free Trade, Anti-Socialist | 1901–1909 | |
| Commonwealth Liberal | 1909–1910 | ||
| William Johnson | Labor | 1910–1913 | |
| William Fleming | Commonwealth Liberal | 1913–1916 | |
| Nationalist | 1916–1921 | ||
| Country | 1921–1922 | ||
| Sydney Gardner | Nationalist | 1922–1931 | |
| United Australia | 1931–1940 | ||
| Eric Spooner | United Australia | 1940–1943 | |
| Thomas Williams | Labor | 1943–1949 | |
| Roger Dean | Liberal | 1949–1964 | |
| William Bridges-Maxwell | Liberal | 1964–1969 | |
| Barry Cohen | Labor | 1969–1990 | |
| Frank Walker | Labor | 1990–1996 | |
| Jim Lloyd | Liberal | 1996–2007 | |
| Belinda Neal | Labor | 2007–2010 | |
| Deborah O'Neill | Labor | 2010–present | |
| Australian federal election, 2010: Robertson | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal | Darren Jameson | 37,151 | 43.53 | -2.11 | |
| Labor | Deborah O'Neill | 33,935 | 39.76 | -3.15 | |
| Greens | Peter Freewater | 7,671 | 8.99 | +1.79 | |
| Christian Democrats | Graham Freemantle | 1,544 | 1.81 | -0.40 | |
| Independent | Melissa Batten | 1,513 | 1.77 | +1.77 | |
| Independent | Jake Cassar | 1,077 | 1.26 | +1.26 | |
| Family First | Michael Jakob | 749 | 0.88 | +0.07 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Nicole Beiger | 581 | 0.68 | +0.68 | |
| One Nation | Don Parkes | 568 | 0.67 | -0.39 | |
| Independent | Michelle Meares | 552 | 0.65 | +0.65 | |
| Total formal votes | 85,341 | 93.64 | -2.92 | ||
| Informal votes | 5,795 | 6.36 | +2.92 | ||
| Turnout | 91,136 | 94.35 | -1.76 | ||
| Two-candidate preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Deborah O'Neill | 43,520 | 51.00 | +0.91 | |
| Liberal | Darren Jameson | 41,821 | 49.00 | -0.91 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | +0.91 | |||
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