Electoral district of Albury

Albury New South Wales—Legislative Assembly
Location in New South Wales
State	New South Wales
Dates current	1880–1920 1927–present
MP	Greg Aplin
Party	Liberal Party of Australia
Area	19,686.86 km^2 (7,601.1 sq mi)

Albury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Greg Aplin of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Albury is a regional electorate in the state's south. It encompasses the local government areas of the City of Albury, Greater Hume Shire, Federation Council, Tumbarumba Shire, part of Murrumbidgee Council and a small part of Tumut Shire that includes the town of Cabramurra. Its significant population centres include Albury, Culcairn, Jindera, Corowa, Howlong, Holbrook, Jerilderie, and Tumbarumba.^[1]

History

Albury was first created in 1880 from part of Hume and is named after the city of Albury. In 1920, Albury, Wagga Wagga, and Corowa were absorbed into Murray, and four members were elected under proportional representation. At the end of proportional representation in 1927, Albury was recreated.

Albury has generally been considered as a heartland seat for the conservative parties. The Liberal Party of Australia and its predecessors have held the seat for almost all of its history. While there have been several instances of the Australian Labor Party breaking the conservative hold on the seat, these have typically been short-lived and have occurred only at the peak of a popular government. For instance, former Albury mayor Harold Mair won the seat for Labor in 1978 and held it for a decade. Mair was swept away in the landslide Labor defeat of 1988. Liberal Ian Glachan, who had been Mair's opponent in 1984, actually turned Albury into a safe seat in one stroke.

Since then, Labor has never come close to retaking the seat. Labor candidates are usually fortunate to get much more than 30 percent of the primary vote. The Liberal hold on the seat has only been seriously threatened once, when Glachan suffered a 16-point swing against independent Claire Douglas. Glachlan only held on to the seat by 687 votes. The seat reverted to form in 2003 upon Glachan's retirement. His successor, Greg Aplin, won 61.5 percent of the two-party vote, and Labor was pushed to fourth place on the primary vote behind Alpin and two independents.

Members

First incarnation (1880–1920)
Member		Party	Term
	George Day	None	1880–1887
		Protectionist	1887–1889
	John Wilkinson	Protectionist	1889–1895
	Richard Ball	Free Trade	1895–1898
	Thomas Griffith	Protectionist	1898–1901
		Independent	1901–1904
	Gordon McLaurin	Progressive	1904–1907
		Independent	1907–1913
	John Cusack	Labor	1913–1917
		Independent Labor	1917–1917
	Arthur Manning	Nationalist	1917–1920
Second incarnation (1927—present)
Member		Party	Term
	John Ross	Nationalist	1927–1930
		Independent	1930–1930
	Joseph Fitzgerald	Labor	1930–1932
	Alexander Mair	United Australia	1932–1943
		Democratic	1943–1945
		Liberal	1945–1946
	John Hurley	Labor	1946–1947
	Doug Padman	Liberal	1947–1965
	Gordon Mackie	Liberal	1965–1978
	Harold Mair	Labor	1978–1988
	Ian Glachan	Liberal	1988–2003
	Greg Aplin	Liberal	2003–present

Election results

New South Wales state election, 2015: Albury^[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Greg Aplin	26,800	57.8	−0.9
	Labor	Ross Jackson	14,684	31.7	+16.4
	Greens	Niloufer King	2,603	5.6	+0.6
	Christian Democrats	Kym Wade	1,254	2.7	+0.2
	No Land Tax	John Marra	1,006	2.2	+2.2
Total formal votes			46,347	96.5	+0.5
Informal votes			1,681	3.5	−0.5
Turnout			48,028	87.9	−1.0
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Greg Aplin	27,915	63.2	−13.9
	Labor	Ross Jackson	16,233	36.8	+13.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	−13.9

References

1. "Albury". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
2. State Electoral District of Albury: First Preference Votes, NSWEC.
3. State Electoral District of Albury: Distribution of Preferences, NSWEC.