Post-election pendulum for the New South Wales state election, 2007

The following pendulum is known as the Mackerras Pendulum, invented by psephologist Malcolm Mackerras. Designed for the outcome of the 2007 New South Wales state election and changes since, the pendulum works by lining up all of the seats held in Parliament, according to the percentage point margin on a two candidate preferred basis. The two party result is also known as the swing required for the seat to change hands. Given a uniform swing to the opposition or government parties in an election, the number of seats that change hands can be predicted. Swing is never uniform, but in practice variations of swings usually tend to cancel each other out. "Safe" seats require a swing of over 10 per cent to change, "fairly safe" seats require a swing of between 6 and 10 per cent, while "marginal" seats require a swing of less than 6 per cent.

Contents

Legislative Assembly

Changes in the pendulum since the 2007 election resulted through by-elections in the Labor held seats of Ryde in 2008 and Penrith in 2010. Both seats were won by the Liberal opposition in record swings against the Labor Government of 25% in Penrith and 23% in Ryde.

Pendulum

LABOR SEATS
Marginal
Miranda Barry Collier ALP 0.8%
Newcastle Jodi McKay ALP v IND 1.2%
Maitland Frank Terenzini ALP v IND 2.0%
Menai Alison Megarrity ALP 2.7%
Wollondilly Phil Costa ALP 3.3%
Balmain Verity Firth ALP v GRN 3.8%
Camden Geoff Corrigan ALP 4.0%
Gosford Marie Andrews ALP 4.9%
The Entrance Grant McBride ALP 4.9%
Fairly safe
Monaro Steve Whan ALP 6.3%
Londonderry Allan Shearan ALP 6.9%
Wyong David Harris ALP 6.9%
Charlestown Matthew Morris ALP v IND 7.0%
Coogee Paul Pearce ALP 7.2%
Marrickville Carmel Tebbutt ALP v GRN 7.5%
Drummoyne Angela D'Amore ALP 7.6%
Heathcote Paul McLeay ALP 8.8%
Safe
Riverstone John Aquilina ALP 10.1%
Rockdale Frank Sartor ALP 10.3%
Swansea Robert Coombs ALP 10.8%
Blue Mountains Phil Koperberg ALP 11.1%
Granville David Borger ALP 11.1%
Macquarie Fields Andrew McDonald ALP 11.1%
Mulgoa Diane Beamer ALP 11.1%
Kiama Matt Brown ALP 12.0%
Cessnock Kerry Hickey ALP 12.4%
Bathurst Gerard Martin ALP 13.0%
Parramatta Tanya Gadiel ALP 13.7%
East Hills Alan Ashton ALP 14.1%
Oatley Kevin Greene ALP 14.4%
Toongabbie Nathan Rees ALP 14.5%
Strathfield Virginia Judge ALP 15.1%
Smithfield Ninos Khoshaba ALP 15.5%
Wallsend Sonia Hornery ALP 15.8%
Maroubra Michael Daley ALP 16.1%
Kogarah Cherie Burton ALP 17.7%
Campbelltown Graham West ALP 18.6%
Very safe
Fairfield Joe Tripodi ALP 20.4%
Shellharbour Lylea McMahon ALP v IND 21.6%
Keira David Campbell ALP 22.0%
Blacktown Paul Gibson ALP 22.3%
Heffron Kristina Keneally ALP 23.7%
Wollongong Noreen Hay ALP 25.3%
Mount Druitt Richard Amery ALP 25.4%
Bankstown Tony Stewart ALP 25.6%
Liverpool Paul Lynch ALP 26.9%
Canterbury Linda Burney ALP 27.1%
Auburn Barbara Perry ALP 28.8%
Cabramatta Reba Meagher ALP 29.0%
Lakemba Morris Iemma ALP 34.0%
LIBERAL/ NATIONAL SEATS
Marginal
Port Stephens Craig Baumann LIB 0.1%
Goulburn Pru Goward LIB v IND 1.3%
Tweed Geoff Provest NAT 3.0%
Manly Mike Baird LIB v IND 3.4%
Bega Andrew Constance LIB 5.1%
Fairly safe
Hawkesbury Ray Williams LIB v IND 6.0%
Barwon Kevin Humphries NAT v IND 6.2%
South Coast Shelley Hancock LIB 7.8%
Epping Greg Smith LIB 8.0%
Terrigal Chris Hartcher LIB 8.4%
Pittwater Rob Stokes LIB v IND 9.4%
Safe
Murray-Darling John Williams NAT 10.1%
Baulkham Hills Wayne Merton LIB 10.3%
Lismore Thomas George NAT 10.5%
Clarence Steve Cansdell NAT 11.6%
Orange Russell Turner NAT V IND 11.7%
Lane Cove Anthony Roberts LIB 12.4%
Ryde Victor Dominello LIB 13.0%
Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire LIB 13.0%
Ballina Don Page NAT 14.5%
Willoughby Gladys Berejiklian LIB v IND 14.5%
Upper Hunter George Souris NAT 14.7%
North Shore Jillian Skinner LIB v GRN 15.8%
Oxley Andrew Stoner NAT 15.9%
Murrumbidgee Adrian Piccoli NAT 16.1%
Vaucluse Peter Debnam LIB v GRN 16.1%
Penrith Stuart Ayres LIB 16.48%
Hornsby Judy Hopwood LIB 16.5%
Wakehurst Brad Hazzard LIB 17.3%
Myall Lakes John Turner NAT 17.4%
Cronulla Malcolm Kerr LIB 17.5%
Burrinjuck Katrina Hodgkinson NAT 17.6%
Coffs Harbour Andrew Fraser NAT 17.6%
Albury Greg Aplin LIB 19.0%
Castle Hill Michael Richardson LIB 19.1%
Very safe
Davidson Jonathan O'Dea LIB 24.7%
Ku-ring-gai Barry O'Farrell LIB 29.0%
INDEPENDENT SEATS
Lake Macquarie Greg Piper IND v ALP 0.1%
Dubbo Dawn Fardell IND v NAT 0.9%
Port Macquarie Peter Besseling IND v NAT 4.5%
Tamworth Peter Draper IND v NAT 4.8%
Sydney Clover Moore IND v ALP 16.6%
Northern Tablelands Richard Torbay IND v NAT 30.2%


Legislative Council

Labor MLC Michael Costa resigned on 22 September 2008. Unions NSW secretary John Robertson was nominated by Labor as his successor, and was formally appointed at a joint sitting of parliament on 28 October.

Gordon Moyes was appointed in 2002 as a member of the Christian Democratic Party to fill the casual vacancy caused by Elaine Nile's resignation from the Legislative Council. He was elected in 2003. Having been expelled from the party in March 2009, he sat as an independent until November 2009 when he joined the Family First Party.

Labor MLC Henry Tsang resigned effective 3 December 2009. Former Mayor of the City of Rockdale Shaoquett Moselmane was nominated by Labor as his successor, and was formally appointed at a joint sitting of parliament on 3 December.

On 7 June 2010, Labor Minister Ian Macdonald resigned from the Legislative Council after resigning from the ministry when it was discovered that he had mis-used taxpayer funds to fund a private holiday in Europe.[1][2] In total, 12 of the 22 Ministers sworn in after the last State election have resigned or been replaced to date.[2] Assistant general secretary of the NSW branch of the ALP Luke Foley was nominated by Labor as his successor, and was formally appointed at a joint sitting of parliament on 10 June 2010.

Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon resigned on 19 July 2010 to contest a seat for the Federal Senate at the 2010 election. The death of Shooters and Fishers Party MLC Roy Smith on 30 July 2010 and the resignations of Labor MLC John Della Bosca on 30 July and Greens MLC Sylvia Hale on 6 September left four vacancies, which were filled by Cate Faehrmann, Robert Borsak, Sophie Cotsis and David Shoebridge respectively on 7 September 2010.

Current balance

Party Seats held Current Council
2007 Now
Australian Labor Party 19 19                                      
Liberal Party of Australia 10 10                                      
National Party of Australia 5 5                                      
The Greens 4 4                                      
Shooters and Fishers Party 2 2                                      
Christian Democratic Party 2 1                                      
Family First Party 0 1                                      

References