Electoral district of Northern Tablelands

Northern Tablelands New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
File:Nsw electoral district northerntablelands 2015.svg Location in New South Wales
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1920–1927 1981–present
MP	Adam Marshall
Party	The Nationals
Area	53,153.76 km2 (20,522.8 sq mi)

Northern Tablelands is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Adam Marshall representing the The Nationals, following a by-election triggered by the resignation of independent member Richard Torbay. The electorate currently includes Uralla Shire, Armidale Dumaresq Shire, Guyra Shire, Glen Innes Severn, Inverell Shire, Gwydir Shire and Moree Plains Shire.

History

Northern Tablelands was originally created in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation, replacing Armidale, Gough and Tenterfield, and elected three members. It was held by the same three members throughout its first incarnation: inaugural Country Party leader Michael Bruxner, state Minister for Education David Drummond, and Labor MP Alfred McClelland, grandfather of former federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland. In 1927, it was divided into the single-member electorates of Armidale and Tenterfield. It was recreated in 1981, partly replacing Armidale and Tenterfield.

The first member after its recreation in 1981 was Bill McCarthy, a Labor member, who had previously been the member for the abolished electorate of Armidale. McCarthy was a popular member, and held the seat for Labor as the region trended increasingly conservative. McCarthy had developed serious health problems by the 1984 state election, but was persuaded to recontest to maintain Labor control of the seat; he subsequently died in office in 1987. Labor endorsed McCarthy's widow, Thelma, at the subsequent by-election, but she was narrowly defeated by National Party candidate Ray Chappell after a heavily-publicised campaign. Chappell was re-elected with little difficulty three times, but in the 1999 election faced a challenge from the popular ex-mayor of Armidale, Richard Torbay, standing as an independent. In a shock result Torbay won the seat with a comfortable margin, continuing a trend in NSW country areas for National Party candidates to be rejected in favour of local independents. In 2007, he was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the first independent to fulfill the role since 1917.

From 1999, Northern Tablelands covered 30,546 km², including the uplands of northern New South Wales. It centred on the university city of Armidale; other towns included in the electorate are Inverell, Glen Innes, Tenterfield and Uralla. The northern boundary of the electorate is the Queensland border. At the 2003 election, there were 42,886 enrolled voters.

In 2007, the low level of population growth in the electorate led to Northern Tablelands being expanded, both to the west to take in Warialda and Bingara and to the south to take in Walcha and Nowendoc, increasing its area to 44,674 km².

The redistribution ahead of the 2015 state election saw Northern Tablelands expanded again to 53,153.76 square kilometres. Added to the district was the entirety of Moree Plains Shire along with the remainder of Armidale Dumaresq Shire, whilst Tenterfield Shire was removed from the district.

Members

First incarnation (1920—1927, 3 members)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
Template:Australian politics/party colours/Progressive (1920)|	Michael Bruxner	Progressive	1920–1925	Template:Australian politics/party colours/Progressive (1920)|	David Drummond	Progressive	1920–1925	rowspan="2" Template:Australian politics/party colours/Labor|	Alfred McClelland	Labor	1920–1927
Template:Australian politics/party colours/Nationals|		Country	1925–1927	Template:Australian politics/party colours/Nationals|		Country	1925–1927

Second incarnation (1981—present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
Template:Australian politics/party colours/Labor|	Bill McCarthy	Labor	1981–1987
Template:Australian politics/party colours/Nationals|	Ray Chappell	The Nationals	1987–1999
Template:Australian politics/party colours/Independent|	Richard Torbay	Independent	1999–2013
Template:Australian politics/party colours/National|	Adam Marshall	The Nationals	2013–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Northern Tablelands

New South Wales state election, 2015: Northern Tablelands

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	The Nationals	Adam Marshall	32,247	66.7	+31.1
	Labor	Debra O'Brien	7,573	15.7	+10.7
	Independent	David Mailler	3,471	7.2	+7.2
	Greens	Mercurius Goldstein	3,453	7.1	+3.7
	Christian Democrats	Holly Beecham	1,115	2.3	+0.9
	No Land Tax	Trevor Gay	489	1.0	+1.0
Total formal votes			48,348	97.8	−0.7
Informal votes			1,082	2.2	+0.7
Turnout			49,430	90.1	−2.4
Two-party-preferred result
	The Nationals	Adam Marshall	34,077	77.1	−0.6
	Labor	Debra O'Brien	10,137	22.9	+0.6
	National hold		Swing	−0.6

External links

• "Northern Tablelands". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 April 2015.