Electoral district of Port Macquarie
| Port Macquarie New South Wales—Legislative Assembly | |
|---|---|
| State | New South Wales |
| Dates current | 1988–present |
| MP | Leslie Williams |
| Party | The Nationals |
| Area | 1,459.69 km2 (563.6 sq mi) |
Port Macquarie is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Leslie Williams of The Nationals.
It presently includes parts of coastal Port Macquarie-Hastings Council (including Port Macquarie, Dunbogan, Kendall, Kew, Laurieton, North Haven and West Haven) and the northeast of the City of Greater Taree (including Coopernook, Lansdowne, Moorland, Hannam Vale, Johns River and Stewarts River). The district also includes Lord Howe Island.[1]
History
Port Macquarie was created in 1988, replacing Oxley (which was recreated in 1991). It has historically been a comfortably safe seat for the National Party. Dating to its time as Oxley, the Port Macquarie area had been held by a conservative party since the return to single-member seats in 1927, and had been in National hands since 1945.
This tradition was broken in 2002, when three-term National member and shadow minister Rob Oakeshott resigned from the party to become an independent. He was handily reelected as an independent in 2003 and 2007. Oakeshott resigned in 2008 to run in a by-election for the federal seat of Lyne, which was based on Port Macquarie at the time. He was succeeded by longtime friend and staffer Peter Besseling. However, Besseling was swept out by the Nationals' Leslie Williams amid the massive National wave that swept through rural NSW that year.
Members for Port Macquarie
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Jeffery | National | 1988–1991 | |
| Wendy Machin | National | 1991–1996 | |
| Rob Oakeshott | National | 1996–2002 | |
| Independent | 2002–2008 | ||
| Peter Besseling | Independent | 2008–2011 | |
| Leslie Williams | National | 2011–present | |
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Leslie Williams | 30,567 | 62.1 | +9.7 | |
| Labor | Kristy Quill | 11,866 | 24.1 | +18.4 | |
| Greens | Drusi Megget | 4,384 | 8.9 | +5.2 | |
| Christian Democrats | Ashley Prinable | 1,572 | 3.2 | +1.1 | |
| No Land Tax | Paul Grasso | 845 | 1.7 | +1.7 | |
| Total formal votes | 49,234 | 97.2 | −0.9 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,426 | 2.8 | +0.9 | ||
| Turnout | 50,660 | 91.5 | +1.6 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| National | Leslie Williams | 31,699 | 69.0 | −9.8 | |
| Labor | Kristy Quill | 14,272 | 31.1 | +9.8 | |
| National hold | Swing | −9.8 | |||