|
|
|
|
| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Parkes, New South Wales
Western New South Wales: Bourke, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Gunnedah, Moree
Sitting member: Mark Coulton (Nationals), elected 2007
Enrolment at close of rolls: 107,445
2013 Nationals majority over Labor: 22.4%
2016 notional Nationals majority over Labor: 19.9%
|
Candidates in ballot-paper order:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
1. Kate Stewart
Australian Labor Party |
2. Glen Ryan
Christian Democrats |
3. John Ayton
Online Direct Democracy |
4. Matt Parmeter
Australian Greens |
5. Mark Coulton
The Nationals |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Parkes was created in 1984, based on Broken Hill and the western pastoral districts of NSW (there was an older seat of Parkes in Sydney from 1901 to 1969). At the 2006 redistribution the 1984 Parkes was abolished and partitioned between Calare and Farrer. To preserve the name of Sir Henry Parkes, the federation seat of Gwydir, based on the Western Slopes area, was renamed Parkes. In 2007 the sitting member for Parkes, John Cobb, contested Calare, rather than the new Parkes.
The 2016 redistribution has partly reversed this change. Broken Hill has been put back in the seat. Ever since the Federation seat of Darling was abolished in 1977, Broken Hill has been a problem for NSW redistribution commissioners: no longer big enough to have its own seat, but not compatible with any of the surrounding seats. Since 1977 it has been in Riverina, Parkes, Farrer and now Parkes again.
Parkes was one of the most rural electorates in Australia, with the seventh-highest proportion of the workforce engaged in agriculture of any electorate, and the low levels of median family income and of people born in non English speaking countries typical of rural seats. The inclusion of Broken Hill has somewhat diluted the rural character of the seat, although agriculture is still very important. The seat also has significant number of people of Indigenous origin.
Broken Hill has always been a Labor stronghold. Even in 2013, Labor won all but one polling booth in Broken Hill. But because Labor has almost no support in the rural areas of seat, the inclusion of Broken Hill has reduced the Nationals majority only slightly, to 19.9%.
Mark Coulton, Nationals MP for Parkes since 2007, was a farmer and grazier and mayor of Gwydir Shire Council before his election. He has been Nationals Chief Whip since 2010. The Labor candidate will be Kate Stewart, a Treasury public servant who comes from Wilcannia but currently lives in Canberra.
Back to main page
Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
|
|