William John Patrick McCarthy (22 May 1923 – 25 April 1987) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Armidale from 1978 to 1981, and Northern Tablelands from 1981 to 1987.

McCarthy married Thelma on 8 March 1945, with whom had have three children. He served as a flying officer in the RAAF before becoming a grazier in 1959. From 1970 to 1978 he was a field officer with the Community Development and Extension Division. ^[1]

In 1978, McCarthy was the Labor candidate for the Country Party-held state seat of Armidale; he narrowly defeated sitting MP David Leitch amid that year's massive Labor landslide to become only the second Labor member to win it. ^[2] In 1981 the seat was abolished, and McCarthy contested the new seat of Northern Tablelands, which was essentially a merger of the old seats of Armidale and Tenterfield. Although the new seat had a notional National Country Party majority, McCarthy was elected. McCarthy resigned due to ill health on 22 April 1987 and died 3 days later. ^[1] His widow Thelma was the Labor candidate in the resulting by-election but was defeated by National Party candidate Ray Chappell. ^[3]

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