| Casey |
Division of Charlton | Chifley |
 Hon Greg Combet AO (ALP) His ministerial website |  |
Location: North Central NSW: Cardiff, Edgeworth, Toronto, Wallsend Division named for: Matthew Charlton, Labor Leader 1922-28 Median weekly family income: $855 (98th highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 4.6% (117th highest) Persons in professional occupations: 21.0% (121st highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 13.9% (58th highest) Couple families with dependent children: 37.9% (85th highest) Dwellings being purchased: 30.7% (40th highest) Sitting member: Hon Greg Combet AO (Labor), elected 2007 Born: 28 April 1958, Sydney. Career: Educated university of NSW, Sydney University. Mining engineer, union official. Secretary, Australian Council of Trade Unions 1999-2007. Order of Australia 2006. Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement from 3 December 2007 1996 two-party majority: Labor 09.3 1998 two-party majority: Labor 13.0 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 00.8 shift to Liberal 2001 two-party majority: Labor 06.7 2004 two-party majority: Labor 07.9 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 00.5 shift to Labor 2007 notional two-party majority: Labor 08.4 2007 two-party majority: Labor 12.9 
2004 enrolment: 85,547 2007 enrolment: 91,129 (+06.5%) (new boundaries) Charlton was created in 1984, from parts of Shortland, Hunter and Newcastle, on the Hunter Valley coalfields, and its boundaries have changed little since. It is a solidly working class electorate, as shown by its relatively low median family income and its low proportion of people in professional occupations. Like most regional seats, it also has a low proportion of people born in non English speaking countries. Seats like this have been drifting towards the Coalition for many years, but Charlton remains firmly Labor. Labor's strength lies in the Newcastle suburban areas of Cardiff and Wallsend, while the Liberals do best in some of the lakeside booths in the southern part of the seat. The first member for Charlton was Robert Brown, who had been member for Hunter since 1980, and who was a junior minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. He was succeeded by his daughter, Kelly Hoare in 1998. In 2006 the Labor National Executive disendorsed Hoare and installed the ACTU Secretary, Greg Combet in Charlton. After the 2007 election he was immediately made a parliamentary secretary. In 2007 Labor gained a 4.5% swing and carried all but three booths, polling 79% of the two-party vote at Birraban and also topping 75% at Argenton and West Wallsend. The Liberals won Corey Bay, Coral Point and Kilaben Bay. | | 
Two-party vote by booth, 2007
Click to enlarge map
|
