Division of Cowper
Cowper AustralianHouse of RepresentativesDivision | |||||||||||||||
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Created | 1901 | ||||||||||||||
MP | Pat Conaghan | ||||||||||||||
Party | Nationals | ||||||||||||||
Namesake | Sir Charles Cowper | ||||||||||||||
Electors | 129,887 (2022) | ||||||||||||||
Area | 7,296 km2(2,817.0 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Demographic | Rural and provincial | ||||||||||||||
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TheDivision of Cowperis anAustralian electoral divisionin thestateofNew South Wales.
Geography
[edit]Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by theAustralian Electoral Commission.Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[1]
History
[edit]The division was created in 1900 and was one of theoriginal 65 divisionscontested at thefirst federal election.It is named afterSir Charles Cowper,an earlyPremier of New South Wales.[2]
Except for one brief break, the seat has been held by the National Party (previously known as the Country Party) and its predecessors since 1919.[2]Its most prominent member has beenSir Earle Page,former leader of the Country Party and interimPrime Minister of Australiain 1939. He represented Cowper from 1919 to 1961, longer than any other MP who represented one seat for his entire career. It has usually been a fairly safe National Party seat, and became more so when its more urbanised area (including Page's hometown ofGrafton) was shifted to the newly createdDivision of Pagein 1984.
The division is located on thenorth coastof New South Wales, and on its current boundaries takes in the towns ofCoffs Harbour,Port Macquarie,Kempsey,MacksvilleandNambucca Heads.
In February 2016, New South Wales federal electoral districts were redistributed. The northern parts of Cowper, from Sapphire Beach to Red Rock were shifted to the division of Page. Since the2019 election,the member for Cowper has beenPat Conaghan,representing theNational Party of Australia.
Members
[edit]Election results
[edit]Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
National | Pat Conaghan | 43,909 | 39.47 | −7.60 | |
Independent | Caz Heise | 29,206 | 26.26 | +26.26 | |
Labor | Keith McMullen | 15,566 | 13.99 | +0.20 | |
One Nation | Faye Aspiotis | 9,047 | 8.13 | +8.13 | |
Greens | Timothy Nott | 6,518 | 5.86 | −0.08 | |
Liberal Democrats | Simon Chaseling | 4,316 | 3.88 | +3.88 | |
United Australia | Joshua Fairhall | 2,674 | 2.40 | −0.62 | |
Total formal votes | 111,236 | 95.07 | +2.85 | ||
Informal votes | 5,770 | 4.93 | −2.85 | ||
Turnout | 117,006 | 90.22 | −1.81 | ||
Notionaltwo-party-preferredcount | |||||
National | Pat Conaghan | 66,153 | 59.47 | −2.41 | |
Labor | Keith McMullen | 45,083 | 40.53 | +2.41 | |
Two-candidate-preferredresult | |||||
National | Pat Conaghan | 58,204 | 52.32 | −4.47 | |
Independent | Caz Heise | 53,032 | 47.68 | +47.68 | |
Nationalhold |
References
[edit]- ^Muller, Damon (14 November 2017)."The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide".Parliament of Australia.Retrieved19 April2022.
- ^abProfile of the Electoral Division of Cowper,Australian Electoral Commission,retrieved9 May2012
- ^Cowper, NSW,2022 Tally Room,Australian Electoral Commission.
Notes
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