A by-election for the seat of Polwarth in the Victorian Legislative Assembly was held on 31 October 2015. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Terry Mulder on 3 September 2015. Former Premier of Victoria, Denis Napthine, resigned his seat representing the adjacent district of South-West Coast on the same day as Mulder.[1] The by-election for South-West Coast was held on the same day.
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Electoral district of Polwarth in the Victorian Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 The electoral district of Polwarth in south-west rural Victoria, west of Geelong, covers the Colac Otway and Corangamite local government areas (LGA), parts of the Moyne, Golden Plains and Surf Coast LGAs, and slivers of the Ararat and Greater Geelong LGAs, running along the Great Ocean Road. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Candidates edit
| 8 candidates in ballot paper order | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Background | |
| Greens | Joe Miles | Welfare officer & disability support,[2] anti-fracking organiser in Victoria's South West & Barwon region.[3] | |
| Democratic Labour | Carmel Kavanagh | Leads a charity providing refugee advocacy, housing and resettlement assistance.[4] | |
| Country | Melinda Cass | Farmer from Cressy.[5] | |
| National | David O'Brien | Former member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Western Victoria Region.[6] | |
| Independent | Brendan Eckel | A Ballarat-based psychiatric nurse.[4] | |
| Sex Party | Meredith Doig | Company director and management consultant. Member of the university council for Federation University Australia.[7] President of the Rationalist Society of Australia.[8] | |
| Liberal | Richard Riordan | Colac businessman, owner of Riordan Colac Hire, board member of the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, former chairman of Colac Area Health board.[9] | |
| Christians | Geoff Rogers | Candidate for federal seat of Lalor at the 2013 federal election.[10] | |
The Labor government did not contest the by-elections in the safe Liberal seats of Polwarth and South-West Coast.[11]
How-to-vote cards edit
Candidate volunteers attempt to distribute how-to-vote cards to voters at polling booths which show the candidate's suggested preference allocation. Candidates and parties which suggested preferences are shown in each column of the table below. The Australian Sex Party ran an open card at this by-election.
| Greens[12] | DLP[12] | Country[13] | National[12] | Eckel | Sex | Liberal | Christians[12] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greens | 1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | No card
|
6 | 7 | |
| DLP | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||
| Country | 6 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 5 | ||
| National | 4 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Eckel | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 6 | ||
| Sex | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 8 | |
| Liberal | 3 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Christians | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
Result edit
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Richard Riordan | 17,798 | 49.6 | −5.7 | |
| Greens | Joe Miles | 5,715 | 15.9 | +4.9 | |
| National | David O'Brien | 4,292 | 12.0 | +12.0 | |
| Democratic Labour | Carmel Kavanagh | 2,911 | 8.1 | +8.1 | |
| Sex Party | Meredith Doig | 2,140 | 6.0 | +6.0 | |
| Country | Melinda Cass | 2,043 | 5.7 | +0.1 | |
| Christians | Geoff Rogers | 575 | 1.6 | +1.6 | |
| Independent | Brendan Eckel | 373 | 1.0 | +1.0 | |
| Total formal votes | 35,847 | 94.8 | −1.3 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,950 | 5.2 | +1.3 | ||
| Turnout | 37,797 | 86.2 | −8.7 | ||
| After distribution of preferences | |||||
| Liberal | Richard Riordan | 18,015 | 50.3 | n/a | |
| Greens | Joe Miles | 5,855 | 16.3 | n/a | |
| National | David O'Brien | 4,414 | 12.3 | n/a | |
| Democratic Labour | Carmel Kavanagh | 3,126 | 8.7 | n/a | |
| Sex Party | Meredith Doig | 2,251 | 6.3 | n/a | |
| Country | Melinda Cass | 2,168 | 6.1 | n/a | |
| Liberal hold | Swing | n/a | |||
The VEC distributed preliminary preferences until a candidate exceeded 50 per cent of the vote, in this case Liberal candidate Richard Riordan.[15]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Former Victorian premier Denis Napthine, senior MP Terry Mulder both retire from politics triggering by-elections". ABC News. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
- ^ "Greens put in the Miles for by-election". The Standard. 10 September 2015.
- ^ Ryan, Jemma (9 July 2014). "Geelong community groups send clear message against fracking". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ a b 2015 Polwarth by-election: ABC
- ^ Sinnott, Alex (25 September 2015). "'Independent Liberal' says the party's over". The Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ Judd, Bridget (7 September 2015). "Victorian National Party to contest by-elections for seats of South-West Coast, Polwarth". ABC News. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ "Dr Meredith Doig". Federation University Australia. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- ^ "Meredith Doig". Rationalist Society of Australia. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
- ^ "Polwarth aspirants race to replace Mulder". The Standard. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
- ^ "Geoff Rogers Lalor". Australian Christians. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
- ^ Sullivan, Kath (3 September 2015). "Labor won't contest by-elections in South-West Coast and Polwarth". The Weekly Times. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d "State District By-elections 2015 Polwarth District Registered How To Vote Cards - Victorian Electoral Commission". www.vec.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ Australian Country Party. "HTVcassprepoll.pdf" (PDF). Australian Country Party. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ State District By-elections 2015: Polwarth District, VEC.
- ^ 2015 Polwarth by-election commentary, ABC.