Division of Robertson

Robertson Australian House of Representatives Division
300px The location of the Division of Robertson, highlighted in red, in New South Wales, as of the 2016 federal election.
Created	(proclaimed 1900), contested (1901)
MP	Lucy Wicks
Party	Liberal
Namesake	John Robertson
Electors	100,820 (2013)
Area	978 km2 (377.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Robertson is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. 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, the fifth Premier of New South Wales.

In 1901 Robertson was a rural western electorate encompassing the area around Dubbo, Mudgee and Wellington. It moved eastward to take in Gosford in 1913, and since then it has been moved eastward in successive redistributions. By 1969, it had moved to approximately its current position on the Central Coast, immediately north of the Hawkesbury River, and now includes none of its former territory. Nonetheless, it has retained the name of Robertson, in part because the Australian Electoral Commission is required to preserve the names of original electorates where possible.

It encompasses the towns of Woy Woy, Gosford and Terrigal.

Two of its members have served as Senators prior or subsequent to their tenures on Robertson. Former Senator Belinda Neal was elected in Robertson in 2007 and Deborah O'Neill became a Senator shortly after losing Robertson in 2013.

In recent years, Robertson has been a bellwether electorate in federal elections, taking on a character similar to mortgage belt seats on Sydney's outer fringe. The seat has a perfect record of voting for the party winning government since the 1983 federal election. The current Member for Robertson, since the 2013 federal election, is Lucy Wicks, a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Henry Willis	Free Trade, Anti-Socialist	1901–1909
		Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1910
	William Johnson	Labour	1910–1913
	William Fleming	Commonwealth Liberal	1913–1917
		Nationalist	1917–1921
		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	2010–2013
	Lucy Wicks	Liberal	2013–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Robertson

Australian federal election, 2013: Robertson

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lucy Wicks	38,704	43.42	−0.11
	Labor	Deborah O'Neill	31,046	34.83	−4.93
	Independent	Lawrie McKinna	7,763	8.71	+8.71
	Greens	Kate Da Costa	4,966	5.57	−3.42
	Independent	Jake Cassar	2,480	2.78	+1.52
	Palmer United	Steve Whitaker	2,082	2.34	+2.34
	Christian Democrats	Holly Beecham	1,115	1.25	−0.56
	Aust. Independents	Douglas McFarland	510	0.57	+0.57
	Democratic Labour	Paul Sheeran	474	0.53	+0.53
Total formal votes			89,140	94.09	+0.45
Informal votes			5,604	5.91	−0.45
Turnout			94,744	93.97	−0.39
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Lucy Wicks	47,242	53.00	+4.00
	Labor	Deborah O'Neill	41,898	47.00	−4.00
	Liberal gain from Labor		Swing	+4.00

External links

• Division of Robertson - Australian Electoral Commission