Division of Calare

Calare Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Calare in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	1906
MP	Andrew Gee
Party	National
Namesake	Lachlan River (Aboriginal name)
Electors	113,025 (2016)
Area	32,666 km^2 (12,612.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of Calare is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was first contested at the 1906 election; created to replace the abolished Division of Canobolas, and is named for the local Aboriginal name for the Lachlan River, which runs through the western part of the division. The name should be pronounced Kal-ah-ree, but the pronunciation Kul-air is established.

The division stretches from Mudgee, Gulgong, Dubbo, Wellington in the north-west, to Orange, Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon in the south-east.

The current Member for Calare, since the 2016 federal election, is Andrew Gee, a member of the National Party.

History

The division originally encompassed Forbes, Orange and Parkes. Subsequent boundary changes moved it eastwards to encompass Bathurst, Lithgow and Oberon. On these boundaries it was notionally a marginal seat between the Australian Labor Party (which held it 1983-96) and the National Party, but it was held comfortably by an independent, Peter Andren, from 1996 to 2007. Andren was not a candidate for the 2007 election: he intended to run for a Senate seat but was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and died during the election campaign.^[1]

A redistribution in 2006 moved the boundaries west to take in Cowra, Grenfell and the vast north-west of New South Wales from Brewarrina to Menindee, making Calare New South Wales's largest electorate. Lithgow, Bathurst and Oberon, which tend to favour Labor, were transferred to the neighbouring seat of Macquarie. At the 2007 federal election, Calare was won by the Nationals' representative John Cobb on a margin of 12.1 percent.^[2] Cobb had previously represented the Division of Parkes, parts of which were redistributed into Calare in 2006.

The 2009 redistribution of NSW moved the boundaries back east, to again include Lithgow, Bathurst and Oberon. Most of the northwestern area of the division was transferred to the neighbouring Division of Parkes.^[3] The changes took effect at the 2010 election.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Thomas Brown	Labour	1906–1913
	Henry Pigott	Commonwealth Liberal	1913–1917
		Nationalist	1917–1919
	Thomas Lavelle	Labor	1919–1922
	Sir Neville Howse	Nationalist	1922–1929
	George Gibbons	Labor	1929–1931
	Harold Thorby	Country	1931–1940
	John Breen	Labor	1940–1946
	John Howse	Liberal	1946–1960
	John England	Country	1960–1975
	Sandy Mackenzie	National Country	1975–1982
		National	1982–1983
	David Simmons	Labor	1983–1996
	Peter Andren	Independent	1996–2007
	John Cobb	National	2007–2016
	Andrew Gee	National	2016–present

Election results

Australian federal election, 2016: Calare^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Andrew Gee	47,717	47.58	−9.03
	Labor	Jess Jennings	27,132	27.06	+0.76
	Greens	Delanie Sky	7,238	7.22	+2.16
	Liberal Democrats	Glen Davis	6,557	6.54	+6.54
	Xenophon	Rod Bloomfield	5,412	5.40	+5.40
	Independent	Anthony Craig	3,836	3.83	+3.83
	Christian Democrats	Bernie Gesling	2,386	2.38	+0.52
Total formal votes			100,278	94.81	+0.94
Informal votes			5,490	5.19	−0.94
Turnout			105,768	93.58	−1.82
Two-party-preferred result
	National	Andrew Gee	61,978	61.81	−3.16
	Labor	Jess Jennings	38,300	38.19	+3.16
	National hold		Swing	−3.16

References

1. "Andren dies after four-month illness". ABC News. Australia. 2 November 2007.
2. "Calare, NSW". Election 2007. Australian Electoral Commission. 2007.
3. http://aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2009/nsw/announcement-maps/Calare-Parkes.jpg
4. Calare, NSW, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

• Division of Calare - Australian Electoral Commission

Coordinates: 33°18′22″S 148°55′19″E / 33.306°S 148.922°E