Division of Parramatta explained

Federal:yes
Parramatta
Created:1901
Mp:Andrew Charlton
Mp-Party:Labor
Namesake:Parramatta
Electors:105513
Electors Year:2022
Area:57
Class:Inner metropolitan

The Division of Parramatta is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the locality of Parramatta. The name Parramatta has been sourced to an Aboriginal word for the area. The Darug people had lived in the area for many generations, and regarded the area as a food bowl, rich in food from the river and forests. They called the area Baramada or Burramatta ("Parramatta") which means "the place where the eels lie down".[1]

The division is based in the western suburbs of Sydney. Besides Parramatta, it includes Camellia, Clyde, Constitution Hill, Dundas Valley, Granville, Harris Park, Holroyd, Mays Hill, North Parramatta, Oatlands, Rosehill, Rydalmere, Telopea, Wentworthville, Westmead; and parts of Carlingford, Dundas, Ermington, Guildford, Merrylands, North Rocks, Northmead, Old Toongabbie, Pendle Hill, South Granville, South Wentworthville, and Toongabbie.

Parramatta is a diverse electorate with large immigrant communities from India and China, and has a higher than average university education rate according to the 2016 census.[2] At the time of the 2022 Australian federal election, 12% of Parramatta's population possessed Chinese ancestry.[3]

The current Member for the Division of Parramatta, since the 2022 federal election, is Andrew Charlton, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

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.[4]

History

As originally created, it covered the outer northwestern suburbs of Sydney, though that city's dramatic growth made it an entirely urban seat after World War II. For most of the first seven decades after Federation, it included a large amount of conservative-leaning territory that usually swamped Parramatta itself, which has historically been a working-class area. As a result, the seat was held by the Liberals and their predecessors for all but one term from Federation until 1977.

A redistribution ahead of the 1977 election split Parramatta almost in half. Most of the wealthier eastern half became the comfortably safe Liberal seat of Dundas. Most of the western half, including the bulk of the Parramatta LGA, became the core of a marginal Labor seat that retained the Parramatta name, as per Australian Electoral Commission guidelines that require the names of original Federation electorates to be preserved where possible.[5] [6] However, the reconfigured Parramatta was anchored in traditionally pro-Labor territory in western Sydney. Parramatta's Liberal incumbent, Phillip Ruddock, opted to follow most of his base into Dundas, allowing his 1975 challenger, John Brown to become only the second Labor member ever to win Parramatta.

Since then, it has been located between Labor's traditional heartland of western Sydney and the traditional Liberal stronghold of the North Shore. As a result, whenever the seat is redistributed, a shift of a few kilometres to the west or east can radically alter its political landscape.[7]

For example, the 2006 redistribution shifted Parramatta from marginally Labor to notionally marginally Liberal (as defined by the Australian Electoral Commission). Nevertheless, as was widely expected[8] at the 2007 federal election, the incumbent Labor member, Julie Owens, held the seat ahead of Liberal candidate Colin Robinson, a member of the Electrical Trades Union,[8] with an increased majority.

Owens was subsequently re-elected at the 2010, 2013, 2016 elections, and 2019. Owens' win in the seat in 2004 marked the third time that the Liberals and their predecessors had won government without winning Parramatta, preceded by Brown's wins in 1975 and 1980.

Prominent members for Parramatta over the years have included (Sir) Joseph Cook, a former Prime Minister; (Sir) Garfield Barwick and Nigel Bowen, both of whom served as Attorney-General before moving to senior judicial position, Barwick as Chief Justice of the High Court. Ruddock, a former Attorney-General and Immigration Minister also represented the seat (though he was the member for Berowra by then); as did Brown, a former Sports Minister.[7]

Members

ImageMemberPartyTermNotes
 Sir Joseph Cook
Free Tradenowrap 30 March 1901
1906
Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Hartley. Served as Opposition Leader from 1908 to 1909, in 1913, and from 1914 to 1917. Served as minister under Deakin and Hughes. Served as Prime Minister from 1913 to 1914. Resigned to become the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
 nowrap Anti-Socialistnowrap 1906 –
26 May 1909
 nowrap Liberalnowrap 26 May 1909 –
17 February 1917
 Nationalistnowrap 17 February 1917 –
11 November 1921
 Herbert Pratten
nowrap 10 December 1921
16 December 1922
Previously a member of the Senate. Transferred to the Division of Martin
 Eric Bowden
nowrap 16 December 1922
12 October 1929
Previously held the Division of Nepean. Served as minister under Bruce. Lost seat
 Albert Rowe
Labornowrap 12 October 1929
19 December 1931
Lost seat
 Sir Frederick Stewart
United Australianowrap 19 December 1931
21 February 1945
Served as minister under Lyons, Menzies and Fadden. Retired
 Liberalnowrap 21 February 1945 –
16 August 1946
 Howard Beale
nowrap 28 September 1946
10 February 1958
Served as minister under Menzies. Resigned to become the Australian Ambassador to the United States
 Sir Garfield Barwick
nowrap 8 March 1958
24 April 1964
Served as minister under Menzies. Resigned to become Chief Justice of the High Court
 Nigel Bowen
nowrap 20 June 1964
11 July 1973
Served as minister under Holt, McEwen, Gorton and McMahon. Resigned to become a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
 Philip Ruddock
nowrap 22 September 1973
10 December 1977
Transferred to the Division of Dundas
 John Brown
Labornowrap 10 December 1977
19 February 1990
Served as minister under Hawke. Retired
 Paul Elliott
nowrap 24 March 1990
2 March 1996
Lost seat
 Ross Cameron
Liberalnowrap 2 March 1996
9 October 2004
Lost seat
 Julie Owens
Labornowrap 9 October 2004
11 April 2022
Retired
 Andrew Charlton
nowrap 21 May 2022
present
Incumbent

Election results

See main article: Electoral results for the Division of Parramatta.

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Book: Troy, Jakelin . The Sydney Language . Macquarie Aboriginal Words . Sydney . Macquarie Library . 76.
  2. Web site: 2016 Parramatta, Census All persons QuickStats Australian Bureau of Statistics . 2022-05-27 . www.abs.gov.au.
  3. Web site: Fang . Jason . Xing . Dong . Handley . Erin . Chinese-Australian voters helped sway the election result. So what issues mattered most to them? . ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 29 June 2024.
  4. Web site: Muller . Damon . The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide . Parliament of Australia . 19 April 2022 . 14 November 2017.
  5. Web site: Homepage . 2018-03-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170510104439/https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/fed2016/parramatta/ . 10 May 2017 . dmy-all .
  6. Web site: Homepage . 2018-03-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170510110023/https://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/fed2016/berowra/ . 10 May 2017 . dmy-all .
  7. News: Parramattta . Green, Antony . Antony Green . Australia votes 2010 . . 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120207190301/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2010/guide/parr.htm . 7 February 2012 . dmy-all .
  8. Web site: Carr. Adam. Division of Parramatta. Guide to the 2007 Federal Election. 2007. 22 September 2007. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20070913145918/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/2007seats/parramatta.shtml. 13 September 2007. dmy-all.