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Division of Lyne | Lyons |
 Robert Oakeshott (Ind) His electorate website |  |
Location: North Coast NSW: Port Macquarie, Taree, Wauchope, Wingham Division named for: Rt Hon Sir William Lyne, Premier of NSW and member of the first federal Parliament Median weekly family income: $643 (148th highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 3.0% (140th highest) Persons in professional occupations: 24.1% (87th highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 20.3% (2nd highest) Couple families with dependent children: 32.1% (137th highest) Dwellings being purchased: 21.1% (118th highest) Sitting member: Robert Oakeshott (Independent), elected 2008 by-election Born 14 December 1969, Lismore, NSW. Career: Educated University of Sydney, Macquarie University. Lawyer. Media officer to the Hon Mark Vaile, MP 1993-96. New South Wales MLA for Port Macquarie 1996-2008 (Nationals 1996-2002, Independent 2002-08). 1996 two-party majority: National 15.4 1998 two-party majority: National 09.7 Effect of 2001 redistribution: 00.4 shift to National 2001 two-party majority: National 11.1 2004 two-party majority: National 13.0 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 01.1 shift to National 2007 national two-party majority: National 14.1 2007 two-party majority: National 08.6 2008 by-election two-candidate majority: Independent over National 23.9 
2004 enrolment: 91,182 2007 enrolment: 86,784 (-04.8%) (new boundaries) Lyne was created in 1949, on the NSW north coast, running from Kempsey to Port Stephens. It has been cut back by successive redistributions as the population of the north coast has grown rapidly, and now consists largely of the Port Macquarie and Taree areas. Although it contains a number of farming communities, it is mainly a tourism and retirement area: only 5.3% of its population are engaged in agriculture, while more than 20% are aged over 65, the second-highest proportion of any electorate. This combination gives it the third-lowest median family income of any electorate. Lyne was held by the Country Party and its successor the Nationals from its creation until 2008, although when there was a three-cornered contest in 1993 it nearly fell to the Liberals. Mark Vaile won Lyne for the Nationals in 1993. Vaile was rapidly promoted under the Howard government, entering Cabinet in 1997 and becoming Leader of the Nationals and Deputy Prime Minister on the retirement of John Anderson in 2005. Following the government's defeat in 2007 he resigned as Nationals leader, and in July 2008 he resigned from Parliament. The October by-election was lost to an independent candidate, the independent NSW state MP Robert Oakeshott. In 2007 the Nationals won most of the small rual booths, polling 72% of the two-party vote at Pembrooke, and passing 65% at Comboyne, Dyers Crossing, Emerald Downs, King Creek, Lorne and Rollands Plains, and also winning every booth in Port Macquarie and Taree. Labor polled 77% of the two-party vote at Crescent Head, but won only four other booths. At the 2008 by-election (which Labor did not contest), Oakeshott won the two-candidate vote at every booth except Dyers Crossing, most by wide margins. | | 
Two-party vote by booth, 2007
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