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| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Macarthur, New South Wales
South-western Sydney: Campbelltown, Ingleburn, Leppington, Minto
Sitting member: Russell Matheson (Liberal), elected 2010
Enrolment at close of rolls: 104,893
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 11.4%
2016 notional Liberal majority over Labor: 3.4%
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Candidates in ballot-paper order:
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1. Richard Bakoss
Nick Xenophon Team |
2. James Gent
Christian Democrats |
3. Russell Matheson
Liberal Party |
4. Dr Michael Freelander
Australian Labor Party |
5. Ben Moroney
Australian Greens |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Macarthur was created in 1949, and has usually been located in the farming towns to the south-west of Sydney, although at different times at has been
drawn into both the Sydney suburbs and the outskirts of Wollongong. Until the 1970s it was a fairly safe Liberal seat, while from 1984 to 1993, when
it included parts of Wollongong, it was a safe Labor seat. Today it is once again a marginal, outer suburban seat, centred on Campbelltown and Ingleburn.
Although Macarthur has a fairly high level of median family income, it also has very high levels of families with dependent children and of dwellings
being purchased, making it a typical high-income mortgage belt seat. Its low level of people in professional occupations shows that it is an electorate
of skilled workers and middle-class wage-earners raising families and paying mortgages.
John Fahey, former NSW Premier and Finance Minister in the Howard Government, won Macarthur in 1996 and held it until 2001, when he retired. His
successor, Pat Farmer, was a Parliamentary Secretary in the Howard Government's last term. He retired in 2010 after a falling out with the NSW Liberal
Party and was succeeded by Russell Matheson, who greatly increased his majority in 2013.
Russell Matheson, Liberal MP for Macarthur since 2010, is a former police officer who was Mayor of Campbelltown five times between 1994 and 2009. Labor's
candidate will be Dr Michael Freelander, who has been a Campbelltown paediatrician for over 30 years.
The 2016 redistribution has radically changed Macarthur, removing its rural areas and moving it northwards into Labor-voting suburban areas such as Eagle Vale
and Minto. This has reduced the Liberal margin from 11.4% to 3.3%, and made the seat a frontline battlefield for the 2016 election.
These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.
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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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