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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Lyne, New South Wales
North Coast New South Wales: Dungog, Forster, Gloucester, Taree
Sitting member: Dr David Gillespie (Nationals), elected 2013
Enrolment at close of rolls: 111,908
2013 Nationals majority over Labor: 14.8%
2016 notional Nationals majority over Labor: 13.6%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Peter Alley
Australian Labor Party |
2. Julie Lyford
Australian Greens |
3. Elaine Carter
Christian Democrats |
4. Brad Christensen
Independent |
5. Dr David Gillespie
The Nationals |
6. Rodger Riach
Independent |
2013 results
Statistics and history
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 coast has grown rapidly, and now consists largely of the Taree and Tuncurry-Forster areas, with some Maitland suburbs at its southern end. 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.
Until 2008, Lyne had been held by the Country Party and its successor the Nationals since it was created. Mark Vaile won it for the Nationals in 1993. He was a minister in the Howard Government and became Leader of the Nationals and Deputy Prime Minister on the retirement of John Anderson in 2005. He resigned his seat after the 2007 election defeat, and the by-election was won by Rob Oakeshott, an independent who had been state MP for Port Macquarie since 1996. After the 2010 election Oakeshott joined with Tony Windsor in supporting the minority Gillard Labor Government. He would have had little hope of retaining Lyne in 2013, and instead chose to retire.
Dr David Gillespie, Nationals MP for Lyne since 2013, was a gastroenterologist and consultant physician, and also a farmer, before his election. The 2016 redistribution has removed Port Macquarie from the seat, and instead extended it southwards to take in all the rural parts of Paterson, including Dungog, Tuncurry- Forster and some suburbs of Maitland. The Nationals majority is slightly reduced. The Labor candidate will be Peter Alley, an IT consultant who also stood in 2013.
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Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
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