Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Newcastle, New South Wales

Named for: City of Newcastle (named in 1804 by Governor Hunter, after Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Britain: also a coal port)


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North Central New South Wales: Adamstown, Newcastle, Wallsend, Waratah

Enrolment at 2019 election: 117,746
Enrolment at 2022 election: 122,452 (+04.1)
1999 republic referendum: Yes 51.0
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 74.8
2023 Voice referendum: Yes 53.5


Sitting member: Sharon Claydon (Labor): Elected 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022


2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 15.9%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 12.5%
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 8.8%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 13.8%
2019 Labor majority over Liberal: 13.8%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 18.0%
2025 notional Labor majority over Liberal: 18.0%

Status: Very safe Labor
Labor two-party vote 1983-2022


  • 2022 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Announced candidates:

    Sharon Claydon
    Australian Labor Liberal Party

    Division of Newcastle

    Newcastle has existed since Federation, and has always been based on the Hunter Valley port of the same name. Newcastle was once Australia's premier coal-export port and steel-making city, but today it has become a regional hub for government, health and education services, with a lower-than-average level of people working in manufacturing and construction, and above-average levels of university graduates and people in professional and managerial employment. It also one of the most monocultural Labor-held seats, having no significant ethhic or religious minorities.

    Despite these changes (and to some extent because of them), Newcastle has always been safe for Labor and remains so today. It has the distinction of being the only federal electorate to have been held by the same political party for the entire 120 years since the first federal election: in that time it has had only six members, all Labor. Yet only one Labor member for Newcastle has been a minister, Charles Jones in the Whitlam Government. For the 30 years after his retirement Newcastle was held by two inconspicuous backbenchers, Allan Morris and Sharon Grierson. Grierson retired in 2013.

    Sharon Claydon, Labor MP for Newcastle since 2013, was a disability support worker and social anthropologist before her election. She was also a member of Newcastle City Council. Following the 2022 election, Newcastle became the safest Labor seat in Australia in two-party terms. It has been only slightly altered by the 2024 redistribution.

    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



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