Division of Dobell

The Division of Dobell (/doʊbɛl/) is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

Dobell Australian House of Representatives Division
From the 2016 federal election to 2025 From the 2025 federal election Interactive map of electorate boundaries
Created	1984
MP	Emma McBride
Party	Labor
Namesake	Sir William Dobell
Electors	122,630 (2025)
Area	675 km2 (260.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Provincial

The current MP is Emma McBride, a member of the Australian Labor Party. She has served since 2016.

History

Sir William Dobell, the division's namesake

The Division of Dobell was created in 1984 and is named in honour of Sir William Dobell, the painter. Dobell was originally a fairly safe seat for the Australian Labor Party, held by Michael Lee, a former minister in the Keating government. The seat was won by the Liberal Party in the 2001 election. The Liberals consolidated their hold on the seat at the 2004 election; however Labor regained the seat at the 2007 election when Craig Thomson defeated Ken Ticehurst.

The seat has been held by Labor’s Emma McBride since 2016.

Boundaries

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.^[1]

The division is located in the Central Coast region and includes the suburbs of The Entrance, Tuggerah and Wyong. The electorate stretches from Blue Haven in the north to Wyoming in the south, from The Entrance in the East through the Jilliby Valley. The division includes the suburbs Bateau Bay, Berkeley Vale, Blue Haven, The Entrance, Gorokan, Jilliby, Lisarow, Ourimbah, Toukley, Tuggerah, Tumbi Umbi, Wamberal, Wyoming, and Wyong.

Members

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Michael Lee (1957–)	Labor	1 December 1984 – 10 November 2001	Served as minister under Keating. Lost seat
		Ken Ticehurst (1945–)	Liberal	10 November 2001 – 24 November 2007	Lost seat
		Craig Thomson (1964–)	Labor	24 November 2007 – 29 April 2012	Lost seat
			Independent	29 April 2012 – 7 September 2013
		Karen McNamara (1964–)	Liberal	7 September 2013 – 2 July 2016	Lost seat
		Emma McBride (1975–)	Labor	2 July 2016 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Dobell

2025 Australian federal election: Dobell^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Emma McBride	44,270	42.80	−0.09
	Liberal	Brendan Small	28,768	27.81	−5.87
	Greens	Simon Cooper	10,649	10.29	+1.73
	One Nation	Martin Stevenson	9,042	8.74	+1.29
	Legalise Cannabis	Tim Claydon	4,893	4.73	+4.73
	Trumpet of Patriots	Anthony Tawaf	2,841	2.75	+2.75
	Animal Justice	Patrick Murphy	1,909	1.85	+1.85
	Libertarian	Isaac Chalik	1,069	1.03	+1.03
Total formal votes			103,441	92.27	−3.11
Informal votes			8,664	7.73	+3.11
Turnout			112,105	91.42	+3.05
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Emma McBride	61,397	59.35	+2.79
	Liberal	Brendan Small	42,044	40.65	−2.79
	Labor hold		Swing	+2.79

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Dobell.[edit]

Results are not final. Last updated on 24 May 2025 at 1:00 AM AEST.

2022 Australian federal election: Dobell^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Emma McBride	43,595	42.86	+1.37
	Liberal	Michael Feneley	34,276	33.70	−7.03
	Greens	Cath Connor	8,700	8.55	+1.08
	One Nation	Martin Stevenson	7,583	7.45	+7.45
	United Australia	Dean Mackin	3,818	3.75	−1.58
	Fusion	Geoff Barnes	2,202	2.16	+2.16
	Liberal Democrats	Eliot Metherell	1,543	1.52	+1.52
Total formal votes			101,717	95.38	+1.35
Informal votes			4,930	4.62	−1.35
Turnout			106,647	90.07	−1.98
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Emma McBride	57,491	56.52	+5.02
	Liberal	Michael Feneley	44,226	43.48	−5.02
	Labor hold		Swing	+5.02

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Dobell.[edit]

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Dobell in the 2022 federal election. Y indicates at what stage the winning candidate had over 50% of the votes and was declared the winner.