Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Eden-Monaro, New South Wales

Named for: Town of Eden (after George Eden, Earl of Auckland (1784- 1849), British minister), and Monaro region (The town of Eden was established in 1842 and named by Thomas Townsend, the NSW Government Surveyor. The Monaro district (pronouned Mon-AIR-o, not Mon-AR-o) was settled in the 1820s, and was originally spelled Moneroo, Manaro or Maneroo. There was a NSW electoral district of Maneroo from 1851. It is said to be an Indigenous word meaning "breast-shaped hills", although this is also said to be the meaning of the name Canberra. A local grazier wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1858 that the word meant "big plains.")


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Southern New South Wales: Bega, Cooma, Eden, Goulburn, Queanbeyan

Enrolment at 2019 election: 114,178
Enrolment at 2022 election: 116,338 (+02.0)
1999 republic referendum: No 53.9
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 64.9
2023 Voice referendum: No 60.2

Sitting member: Hon Kristy McBain (Labor): Elected 2020 by-election, 2022

Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories


2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 3.4%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 4.2%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 0.6%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 2.9%
2019 Labor majority over Liberal: 0.8%
2020 by-election Labor majority over Liberal: 0.4%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 8.1%
2025 notional Labor majority over Liberal: 6.1%

Status 2022: Safe Labor
Labor two-party vote 1983-2022


  • 2022 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Announced candidates:

    Hon Kristy McBain
    Australian Labor Party
    Jo van der Plaat
    Liberal Party

    Division of Eden-Monaro

    Eden-Monaro has existed since Federation, and has always occupied the south-eastern corner of NSW. For most of its history it was a seat based on farming, fishing and timber, but the growth of the Canberra dormitory town of Queanbeyan means that today the largest employment sector is government employment (20.3%), including a substantial Defence vote, while only 6.3% of the population work in agriculture - fewer than the 10% who work in tourism. Nevertheless the electorate is still sensitive to rural issues. The 2004 redistribution has removed Tumut and Yass while adding Goulburn.

    Eden-Monaro was usually a safe conservative seat until 1943, when it was won for Labor by Allan Fraser, who held it until his defeat in 1966, and again from 1969 to 1972. Labor held the seat again from 1983 to 1996: this is one of the few country seats where Labor's base vote has held up.

    Gary Nairn won the seat for the Liberals in 1996, and was a minister in the Howard government. He was defeated in 2007 by Dr Mike Kelly, a former Australian Army officer and lawyer with a distinguished record. Kelly was a minister in the Rudd-Gillard government, but was defeated in 2013 by Dr Peter Hendy, Chief Executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2015 Hendy was one of the organisers of Malcolm Turnbull's party-room coup against Tony Abbott, and was subsequently appointed Assistant Minister for Productivity and later Assistant Minister for Finance. In 2016 Kelly won a return bout against Hendy, despite a redistribution which favoured the Liberals. Kelly was a shadow minister after the 2016 defeat, but in 2020 he was forced by ill-health to resign.

    Kristy McBain, Labor MP since the 2020 by-election which followed Kelly's resignation, ran a plumbing business with her husband before her election to Bega Valley Council in 2012. She became Mayor in 2016 and was in office when the area was devastated by bushfires in the summer of 2019-20. She won the by-election with a majority of only 0.4%, but gained a big swing in 2022. She is now Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories. The Liberal candidate is Jo van der Plaat, a Cooma farmer and lawyer.

    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



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