Electoral district of Parramatta

Parramatta is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Tanya Gadiel of the Australian Labor Party, and is not to be confused with the federal Division of Parramatta, held by Labor MP Julie Owens. It is a 36.29km² urban electorate in Sydney's inner north-west, roughly analogous to the City of Parramatta, taking in the suburbs of Camellia, Clyde, Dundas, Dundas Valley, Ermington, Harris Park, Mays Hill, Melrose Park, North Parramatta, Oatlands, Parramatta, Rosehill, Rydalmere and Westmead. There were 45,017 voters enrolled in the district as of the 1999 state election.

History

Parramatta and Murrumbidgee are the only electorates to have existed continuously since the first Legislative Assembly election in 1856. It elected two members simultaneously from 1856 to 1880. In 1920, it absorbed Granville and elected three members under proportional representation. In 1927, it was divided into the single-member electorates of Parramatta, Granville and Auburn.

With the development of the party system in the early 1900s, it was held by two conservative MPs for nearly 30 years. Though it was particularly marginal during the 1930s, with the seats (there were more than one due to a system of plural representation in place at the time) changing hands several times, it reverted to type under United Australia Party and Liberal MP George Gollan, who held the seat from 1932 to 1953. It again became marginal for several years after 1953, but has become increasingly safe for the Australian Labor Party since 1959, with the party only losing Parramatta for three years in the 1980s. The ALP has held Parramatta comfortably in recent years, and its newest representative, Tanya Gadiel, won the seat easily at the 2003 state election despite a highly publicised and controversial party preselection battle.

Members for Parramatta

External links

*cite web
title=Parramatta Electoral District
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/electoral_districts/all_districts_/parramatta
accessdate = 2007-01-26
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Parramatta Results 2007
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/lapreferential.parramatta.aspx
accessdate = 2007-04-27
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Parramatta Results 2003
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/parramatta/results/2003
accessdate = 2007-01-26
*cite web
title=State Electoral District - Parramatta Results 1999
publisher = New South Wales Electoral Commission
url = http://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/state_government_elections/election_results/district_index/parramatta/results/1999
accessdate = 2007-01-26