- Electoral district of Northern Tablelands
Northern Tablelands is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the
Australia n state ofNew South Wales . It is currently represented by independent memberRichard Torbay .Northern Tablelands is a 30,546 km² rural electorate, covering the uplands of northern New South Wales. It is 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. According to the report for the 2004 redistribution of electoral districts, it was estimated that the electoral district would have 48,942 electors on 29 April 2007. [cite web
title=Redistribution Commissioners' Report
date=21 December 2004
publisher =Election Funding Authority of New South Wales
url = http://efa.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/2105/pagesivtovii300.pdf
accessdate = 2006-12-18 ]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 named afterJohn Oxley . In 1927, it was divided into the single-member electorates of Armidale and Tenterfield. It was recreated in 1981, partly replacing Armidale and Tenterfield. [cite web
title =Former Members
work =Members of Parliament
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url =http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/common.nsf/key//Archives_MemberPage
accessdate = 2007-04-03 ]The first member after its recreation was Bill McCarthy, an independent, who had previously been the member for the abolished electorate of Armidale. McCarthy held the seat until his death in 1987. At the subsequent by-election the seat was captured by the
National Party of Australia , seen as the natural representatives of the electorate due to its rural nature.Ray Chappell was reelected as member 3 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. At the most recent general election (2003), Torbay was re-elected with a huge 71.3% vote before preferences, one of the largest in the state.Members
References
External links
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Northern Tablelands Results 2007
publisher =New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/lapreferential.northern%20tablelands.aspx
accessdate = 2007-05-07
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Northern Tablelands Results 2003
publisher =New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/northern_tablelands/results/2003
accessdate = 2007-01-22
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Northern Tablelands Results 1999
publisher =New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/northern_tablelands/results/1999
accessdate = 2007-01-22
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