Friday, August 31, 2007

New England's Federal Electorates - Welcome Visitor 8,000

Welcome to visitor 8,000 who came to visit via a Google Australia search on government electorates, New England NSW.

Looking at his visit, I realised that while I have previously listed state seats, I have not provided a complete Federal list. So, for the record, a list of Federal seats follows in alphabetical order. A full list of all seats by state can be found here.

  • Charlton. Safe Labor - margin 8.4.
  • Cowper Safe National - margin 6.6.
  • Hunter. Safe Labor - margin 11.1.
  • Lyne. Safe National - margin 13.4
  • New England. Safe Independent - margin 13.6
  • Newcastle. Safe Labor - margin 9.1
  • Page. On paper, moderately safe National - margin 5.5.
  • Parkes (most). Safe National - margin 17.5.
  • Paterson. Safe Liberal - margin 6.3.
  • Richmond. Marginal Labor - margin 1.4.
  • Shortland. Safe Labor - margin 9.2.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jim, go see what Cowper,Page & Richmond voters are saying at the group blog "North Coast Voices".
Where are New Englanders expressing their views on the federal election? Can you point me to a site?

Jim Belshaw said...

Hi PT. I have visited the site and will certainly give it a plug. Not because I necessarily agree, but because there are very few New England political blogs.

There is a Green blog in Newcastle, a few personal blogs that contain political comment, Judith's Clarence Valley protest site, now you. That's about it. I know of no blog at this point dealing with the New England electorate.

I do not care what individual party political positions people have. Without a local expression that allows issues to be debated at local level, New England just gets neglected. As it was in the last state election.

If you articulate North Coast issues I will explain them. If you make general political comment I will ignore them.

Take, as an example, the comment of Clarencegirl on the benefit to the North Coast of the welfare changes. This was a political response that had nothing to do with the issue at a North Coast level.

The reality is that the North Coast electorates are some of the poorest electorates in Australia. Obviously they will benefit more from welfare improvements.

But that's not the point. Why are they so poor? Why hace they, and especially the Clarence Valley, declined so much in real terms? What do we do about it? What do the parties offer?

To me, these are the real questions.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pointer to a Green blog in Newcastle. Will hunt it down out of interest.
Clarence Valley Protest is already listed on our site.

Jim Belshaw said...

Very briefly, PT, since I have to get to work. I will check when I get home myself.

Sorry for the lecturing tone in my first response, I actually feel quite strongly about what I see as the neglect of the North.

In case you haven't seen it, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library has prepared a very useful research paper setting out census data by electorate. I don't have time to check the link this morning - I downloaded it - but you can access it through the web site. I think that you will find this material helpful.

More later.

Anonymous said...

Great minds think alike - mention of census data x electorates up on site aleady.
Internet access data it contained was most interesting also.

Jim Belshaw said...

Good morning, PT. As the first in a series, i ahve put up what I hope is a factual story on Cowper -http://newenglandaustralia.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-englands-federal-electorates-cowper.html

It appears in notional time terms earlier than our actual conversation because I am behind in posting and have reserved some slots.

I have also given you a first plus on my personal blog -http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2007/10/saturday-morning-musings-blogs-and.html

Anonymous said...

Jim,
You're quite right about the paucity of online comment that is electorate-specific. My view is
that the paucity is, unfortunately, another piece of evidence of the extent to which individual Australians have perceptions of their "station in life" that are somewhat different to the reality.

Jim Belshaw said...

Care to amplify what you mean Richie? I think that I understand, but I just wanted to be sure.