The Division of Lyne is an Australian electoral division located in the State of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. It lies on the Mid North Coast

Mid North Coast, New South Wales

The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid to north coast of NSW, beginning at Seal Rocks, 275 km north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolga, 562 km north of Sydney, a distance of roughly...

 of New South Wales and includes the Local Government Areas

Local Government Areas of New South Wales

The local government areas of New South Wales, Australia have been subject to periodic bouts of restructuring and rationalisation by the State Government, involving voluntary and involuntary amalgamation of areas...

 of Gloucester

Gloucester Shire

Gloucester Shire is a Local Government Area in New South Wales, Australia on the Mid North Coast. It is on the Bucketts Way and the North Coast railway line.- Incomes :According to the during 2003-04, there:...

, Greater Taree

City of Greater Taree

The City of Greater Taree is a Local Government Area on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, centered on Taree. It is on the Manning River, the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line.- History :...

, Port Macquarie-Hastings and southern Kempsey. Major population centres include Port Macquarie

Port Macquarie, New South Wales

Port Macquarie is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The city is located on the coast, at the mouth of the Hastings River, and has an estimated population of 44,313....

, Taree

Taree, New South Wales

Taree is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of around 20,000 people and is the centre of a significant agricultural district. It is 16 km from the sea coast,...

, Wauchope

Wauchope, New South Wales

-People from Wauchope:* Iva Davies - Musician, Icehouse* Alison Langdon - Channel Nine News Reader - Today Show* Phil Jamieson - Musician, Grinspoon* Andrew Stoner - NSW National Party of Australia leader, Member for Oxley...

, Laurieton

Laurieton, New South Wales

Laurieton is a coastal town on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales. Laurieton is the largest town in the Camden Haven district. Laurieton is 365 km north of Sydney and 42 km south of Port Macquarie...

, Wingham

Wingham, New South Wales

Wingham is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia in the City of Greater Taree north of Sydney. At the 2006 census, Wingham had a population of 4,812.- History :...

, Gloucester

Gloucester, New South Wales

Gloucester is a town in the dairy and beef cattle country of the Manning district on the Mid North Coast of the state of New South Wales, Australia in the Gloucester Shire....

 and parts of Kempsey

Kempsey, New South Wales

Kempsey is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia and is the council seat for Kempsey Shire. It is located 15 kilometres inland from the coast of the Pacific Ocean where the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line cross the Macleay River...

.

The seat is named after Sir William Lyne

William Lyne

Sir William John Lyne KCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of New South Wales and a member of the first federal ministry.-Early life:...

, Premier of New South Wales at the time of Federation

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

 and subsequently a minister in early Australian conservative governments. William Lyne

William Lyne

Sir William John Lyne KCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of New South Wales and a member of the first federal ministry.-Early life:...

 was commissioned by the first Governor-General

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

, Lord Hopetoun

John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow

John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC , also known as Viscount Aithrie before 1873 and as The 7th Earl of Hopetoun between 1873 and 1902, was a Scottish aristocrat, politician and colonial administrator. He is best known for his brief and controversial tenure as the...

 to form the inaugural Federal Government. He was unable to attract sufficient support to form a cabinet and returned the commission. The unsuccessful commissioning of Lyne is known as The Hopetoun Blunder.

The Division of Lyne was created in a redistribution in 1949 and has been represented by the Australian Country Party and its subsequent derivatives the National Country Party and the National Party of Australia

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

  since its inception. This reflects the area's history as a strongly conservative and rural region. The area has recently undergone significant demographic changes with the arrival of a large number of retired people and city dwellers seeking a sea-change. Despite these changes the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 has made little headway in increasing its vote.

In 1993, after the exclusion of minor candidates, the National's Mark Vaile

Mark Vaile

Mark Anthony James Vaile , Australian politician, is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party of Australia.-Early life:...

 led over the Liberals by only 233 votes.

Vaile retired in July 2008 which triggered a Lyne by-election

Lyne by-election, 2008

A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Lyne on 6 September 2008. This was triggered by the resignation of National Party MP Mark Vaile. The by-election was held on the same day as the Mayo by-election, and the Western Australian state election.The writ for the...

. The seat was lost to independent candidate Rob Oakeshott

Rob Oakeshott

Robert James Murray "Rob" Oakeshott is an Australian politician. He is the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales, which he won in the 2008 by-election following the resignation of former Nationals leader and Howard minister Mark Vaile...

.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	James Eggins James Eggins Eldred James "Jim" Eggins was an Australian politician and a member of the Country Party of Australia.Jim Eggins was born at Grafton, New South Wales and educated in state schools. He served in the military in 1918 and later grew bananas in the Brunswick River region, and was a seed merchant in...	Country	1949 Australian federal election, 1949 Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives, and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, where the single transferable vote was introduced... –1952
	Philip Lucock Philip Lucock Philip Ernest Lucock, CBE was an English born Presbyterian minister and politician. Although he was born in England, he spent most of his life in Australia.-Early life:...	Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1952 Lyne by-election, 1952 The 1952 by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Lyne was called on 22 March after the death of the incumbent Country Party of Australia member James Eggins who died in office on 28 January.-Candidates:... –1975
		National Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1975 Australian federal election, 1975 Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 December 1975. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election following a double dissolution of both Houses.... –1980
	Bruce Cowan Bruce Cowan David Bruce Cowan, AM was an Australian politician and Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of Tom Lewis and Sir Eric Willis...	National Country National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1980 Australian federal election, 1980 Federal elections were held in Australia on 18 October 1980. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives, and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate, were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Malcolm Fraser with coalition partner the National Country Party led by Doug... –1982
		National National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1982–1993
	Mark Vaile Mark Vaile Mark Anthony James Vaile , Australian politician, is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party of Australia.-Early life:...	National National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1993–2008
	Rob Oakeshott Rob Oakeshott Robert James Murray "Rob" Oakeshott is an Australian politician. He is the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales, which he won in the 2008 by-election following the resignation of former Nationals leader and Howard minister Mark Vaile...	Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	2008 Lyne by-election, 2008 A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Lyne on 6 September 2008. This was triggered by the resignation of National Party MP Mark Vaile. The by-election was held on the same day as the Mayo by-election, and the Western Australian state election.The writ for the... –present

Election results