Dating to its time as Oxley, the Port Macquarie area had been held by a conservative party since the return to single-member seats in 1927, and had been in National hands for all but six years since 1945.

This tradition was broken in 2002, when three-term National member and shadow minister Rob Oakeshott resigned from the party to become an independent.

Oakeshott resigned in 2008 to run in a by-election for the federal seat of Lyne, which was based on Port Macquarie at the time.

This was due in part to local voter anger at Oakeshott's support for the minority federal Labor government.

It marked the second time, after Oakeshott, that a member for Port Macquarie has quit the Nationals whilst holding the seat.