Albury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales. The member for Albury has been Justin Clancy of the Liberal Party since 2019.
Albury is a regional electorate in the state's south, on the border with Victoria. It encompasses the local government areas of the City of Albury, Greater Hume Shire, Federation Council, part of Snowy Valleys Council that includes the town of Cabramurra. Its significant population centres include Albury, Culcairn, Jindera, Corowa, Howlong, Holbrook and Tumbarumba.
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 Liberal Party and its predecessors. While Labor has occasionally managed to break the conservative hold on the seat, these have typically 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–only the second Labor member ever to win it in its present incarnation, and the only one to hold it for more than one term. However, Mair's name recognition in the area was not enough to keep him from being swept out in the landslide Labor defeat of 1988. Liberal Ian Glachan, who had been Mair's opponent in 1984, with the seat becoming a safe Liberal seat again.
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 since then. In 1999, Glachan suffered a 16-point swing and bested independent Claire Douglas by only 687 votes. At that election, Labor was pushed into third place. However, Glachan would have easily retained the seat with a 15 percent majority in a "traditional" two-party contest with Labor. 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 Aplin and two independents. Aplin held the seat without serious difficulty until 2019, when he was succeeded by fellow Liberal Justin Clancy.
Members First incarnation (1880–1920) Member Party Term George Day None 1880–1887 18871889 John Wilkinson 1889–1895 Richard Ball 1895–1898 Thomas Griffith 1898–1901 1901–1904 Gordon McLaurin 1904–1907 1907–1913 John Cusack 1913–1917 1917–1917 Arthur Manning 1917–1920 Second incarnation (1927—present)Member Party Term John Ross 1927–1930 1930–1930 Joseph Fitzgerald 1930–1932 Alexander Mair 1932–1943 1943–1945 1945–1946 John Hurley 1946–1947 Doug Padman 1947–1965 Gordon Mackie 1965–1978 Harold Mair 1978–1988 Ian Glachan 1988–2003 Greg Aplin 2003–2019 Justin Clancy 2019–present
Election results
References