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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Calare, New South Wales
Named for: Indigneous name (correctly pronounced Kalaari) for the Lachlan River, which was in the Division in 1906. (On its current boundaries Calare has a few kilometres of frontage on the Lachlan in the south-western
corner of the Division.)
Central West New South Wales: Bathurst, Lithgow, Mudgee, Oberon, Orange
Enrolment at 2019 election: 118,229
Enrolment at 2022 election: 121,414 (+02.8)
1999 republic referendum: No 63.1
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 60.2
2023 Voice referendum: No 71.2
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Sitting member: Hon
Andrew Gee (Independent): Elected 2016, 2019, 2022
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2007 Nationals majority over Labor: 12.0%
2010 Nationals majority over Labor: 10.7%
2013 Nationals majority over Labor: 16.0%
2016 Nationals majority over Labor: 11.8%
2019 Nationals majority over Labor: 13.3%
2022 Nationals majority over Independent 4.2%
2025 notional Nationals majority over Independent 4.2%
Status 2022: Marginal Nationals (over Independent)
Nationals two-party vote 1983-2022
2022 results
Statistics and history
Announced candidates:
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Sam Farraway
The Nationals |
Division of Calare
Calare has existed since 1906, when the Federation seat of
Canobolas was renamed, and for most that time has been in
the Central West of NSW, based on towns like Orange, Forbes, Parkes and Cowra. Like all rural seats, it has a
low level of median family income and a very low level of non English speaking households. Although
it was occasionally won by Labor, Calare on those boundaries was usually a conservative seat. At the 1977
redistribution it was dragged eastwards, losing its western rural areas and gaining the (then) Labor strongholds
of Bathurst and Lithgow, which had previously been in
Macquarie.
David Simmons won Calare for Labor in 1983, and was a minister in the Hawke-Keating government. In 1996 he retired,
and the seat went to an independent, local media identity
Peter Andren. Andren held the seat without difficulty,
aided by Labor preferences. He retired in 2007, and Calare was won by the then sitting National member for Parkes,
John Cobb, who held it until his retirement in 2016.
The 2016 redistribution removed the western part of the seat around Forbes and Parkes, and added territory
to the north around Kandos, Mudgee and Wellington. Kandos is a strong Labor town and this slightly reduced
the Nationals majority. There is still some Labor strength in Bathurst and Lithgow, but Calare is now a fairly
safe seat for the Nationals. The seat was not changed by the 2024 redistribution.
Andrew Gee, MP for Calare since 2016, was a barrister before entering politics. He was state member for
Orange 2011-16. He became an assistant minister in 2019 and was Minister for Veterans Affairs and
Minister for Defence Personnel from July 2021 to May 2022. He resigned from the Nationals in December 2022 over the issues of the Voice referendum, which he supported. It is not clear if he intends recontesting the seat. In July
2024 the Nationals chose Sam Farraway, a member of the NSW Legislative Council, as their candidate.
Boundaries following most recent redistribution:
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