Division of Newcastle

This article is about the Australian federal electorate. For the New South Wales state electorate, see Electoral district of Newcastle. For the historical South Australian state electorate, see Electoral district of Newcastle (South Australia).

Newcastle Australian House of Representatives Division
Interactive map of electorate boundaries
Created	1901
MP	Sharon Claydon
Party	Labor
Namesake	Newcastle
Electors	126,289 (2025)
Area	159 km2 (61.4 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The Division of Newcastle is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned. ^[1]

History

The city of Newcastle, the division's namesake

The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The division was named after the city of Newcastle, around which the division is centred.

It has been held by the Australian Labor Party for its entire existence. Historically, it has been one of that party's safest non-metropolitan seats; the Hunter Region is one of the few country regions where Labor consistently does well. Labor has never tallied less than 58 percent of the Two-party-preferred vote in a general election, and has only come close to losing it once, when it tallied 53 percent in a 1935 by-election, when the top two candidates were representing Labor and Labor (NSW). It is the only original division to be held by just one party since the first federal election.

The Division of Newcastle has had just six members since 1901, the fewest of any of the original divisions. From 1901 to 1958, the seat was held by the Watkins family. The seat's first member, David Watkins, held the seat until his death in 1935. The ensuing by-election was won by his son, David Oliver. Allan Morris' brother Peter Morris was also a Member of the House, holding the Division of Shortland, which lies immediately to the south. Charles Jones' brother Sam was the member for Waratah in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for much of the time that he was the member. The electoral district of Waratah lay within the boundaries of the Division of Newcastle.

The seat's most prominent members were David Watkins, the second-longest serving member of the First Parliament, and Charles Jones, a minister in the Whitlam government. The current Member, since the 2013 federal election, is Sharon Claydon.

Following the 2022 Australian federal election, the division was the safest Labor seat in the nation.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		David Watkins (1865–1935)	Labor	29 March 1901 – 8 April 1935	Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Wallsend. Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Fisher. Died in office. Son was David Oliver Watkins
		David Oliver Watkins (1896–1971)		1 June 1935 – 14 October 1958	Retired. Father was David Watkins
		Charles Jones (1917–2003)		22 November 1958 – 4 February 1983	Served as minister under Whitlam. Retired
		Allan Morris (1940–)		5 March 1983 – 8 October 2001	Retired
		Sharon Grierson (1951–)		10 November 2001 – 5 August 2013	Retired
		Sharon Claydon (1964–)		7 September 2013 – present	Incumbent. Current Deputy Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Newcastle

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Newcastle.[ edit ]

2025 Australian federal election: Newcastle ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Sharon Claydon	49,054	45.31	+1.25
	Greens	Charlotte McCabe	24,061	22.22	+2.21
	Liberal	Asarri McPhee	20,638	19.06	−5.23
	One Nation	Phillip Heyne	5,789	5.35	+0.83
	Trumpet of Patriots	Jennifer Stefanac	3,861	3.57	+2.53
	Family First	Jason Briggs	2,319	2.14	+2.14
	Socialist Alliance	Steve O'Brien	1,656	1.53	+1.53
		Robert Creech	888	0.82	+0.82
Total formal votes			108,266	93.00	−1.57
Informal votes			8,145	7.00	+1.57
Turnout			116,411	92.22	+1.52
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Sharon Claydon	76,644	70.79	+2.85
	Liberal	Asarri McPhee	31,622	29.21	−2.85
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Sharon Claydon	71,244	65.80	−2.14
	Greens	Charlotte McCabe	37,022	34.20	+34.20
	Labor hold		Swing	–2.14

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Newcastle.[ edit ]

2022 Australian federal election: Newcastle ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Sharon Claydon	46,551	44.07	−1.66
	Liberal	Katrina Wark	25,816	24.44	−4.77
	Greens	Charlotte McCabe	21,195	20.07	+4.51
	One Nation	Mark Watson	4,757	4.50	+4.50
	Animal Justice	Emily Brollo	2,549	2.41	−0.79
	United Australia	Amanda Cook	2,517	2.38	−0.99
	Informed Medical Options	William Hussey	1,140	1.08	+1.08
	Federation	Garth Pywell	1,102	1.04	+1.04
Total formal votes			105,627	94.59	+0.10
Informal votes			6,038	5.41	−0.10
Turnout			111,665	91.19	−1.53
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Sharon Claydon	71,807	67.98	+4.15
	Liberal	Katrina Wark	33,820	32.02	−4.15
	Labor hold		Swing	+4.15

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Newcastle in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.

References

1. Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
2. Newcastle, NSW, 2025 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.
3. Newcastle, NSW, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

External links

• Division of Newcastle – Australian Electoral Commission

32°50′28″S151°45′11″E / 32.841°S 151.753°E / -32.841; 151.753