| New England |
Division of Newcastle | North Sydney |
 Sharon Grierson (ALP) Her electorate website |  |
Location: North Central NSW: Lambton, Mayfield, Newcastle, Waratah Division named for: The City of Newcastle, named in 1804 after Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England Median weekly family income: $820 (110th highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 6.6% (90th highest) Persons in professional occupations: 27.1% (60th highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 16.6% (18th highest) Couple families with dependent children: 32.1% (136th highest) Dwellings being purchased: 22.3% (101st highest) Sitting member: Sharon Grierson (Labor), elected 2001, 2004 Born: 4 May 1951. Career: Teacher, school principal, Director Tinonee Gardens Multicultural Village, Community Director Honeysuckle Development Corporation Board. 1996 two-party majority: Labor 11.2 1998 two-candidate majority: Labor over Greens 17.3 (The Liberal Party did not contest Newcastle in 1998) Effect of 2001 redistribution: cannot be calculated 2001 two-party majority: Labor 07.0 2004 two-party majority: Labor 10.0 Effect of 2006 redistribution: 01.3 shift to Liberal 2007 notional two-party majority: Labor 08.7 2007 two-party majority: Labor 15.9 
2004 enrolment: 90,360 2007 enrolment: 93,455 (+03.4%) (new boundaries) Newcastle has existed since Federation, and has always been based on the industrial port of the same name. It has the distinction of being the only federal electorate to have been held by the same political party for the entire 106 years since the first federal election: in that time it has had only five members, all Labor. Newcastle has been in decline for many years as its traditional coal-and-steel industrial base disappears. It has an ageing population (high proportion of over-65s, low proportion of families with dependent children), and thus a low level of median family income. On the other hand it has relatively high proportions of people born in non English speaking countries and people in professional occupations, both usually signs of dynamism. Newcastle has always been safe for Labor and remains so today, although possibly vulnerable to an independent, as the state seat of Newcastle increasingly is. In 2007 Labor won all but one booth, polling 80% of the two-party vote at Islington and more than 75% at Carrington, Maryville Wickham, Mayfield South, Tighes Hill, Waratah East and Woodbury. The Liberals polled 52% at Merewether Heights. Sharon Grierson won Newcastle for Labor in 2001. | | 
Two-party vote by booth, 2007
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