1994 Fremantle by-election

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The 1994 Fremantle by-election was held in the Australian federal electorate of Fremantle in Western Australia on 12 March 1994. The by-election was triggered by the retirement of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's John Dawkins, on 4 February 1994. The writ for the by-election was issued on the same day.

Contents

Background

John Dawkins had held Fremantle for the Labor Party since 1977, and he had been a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, and had been Treasurer since December 1991. When the Cabinet rebelled against the budget he brought down in August 1993, Dawkins resigned from the Treasury and, after giving occasional signals of his rising disillusionment with political life, resigned from Parliament altogether.

The Labor party preselected former state Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence, who despite her party's defeat in the 1993 state election still maintained persistently high ratings in opinion polls, [1] while the Liberal party preselected prominent businessman Geoff Hourn.

The campaign took place in the context of tensions within the Liberal party over the leadership of Dr John Hewson, and parliamentary conflict over the sports rorts affair which had engulfed a Labor minister Ros Kelly, and a tussle between the Senate and the Labor government over documents relating to media ownership changes. [2]

Lawrence resigned from her state seat of Glendalough in order to contest Fremantle.

The Glendalough by-election was held a week later on March 19 and both by-elections were contested by independent Raymond Conder.

Results

Fremantle by-election, 1994
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labor Carmen Lawrence 32,70752.35+2.15
Liberal Geoff Hourn23,04736.89−1.85
Greens Stephen Walker5,2158.35+1.59
Independent Raymond Conder1,5062.41+2.41
Total formal votes62,47597.40+0.37
Informal votes1,6692.60−0.37
Turnout 64,14485.84−10.26
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Carmen Lawrence 36,74558.83+1.04
Liberal Geoff Hourn25,71542.21−1.04
Labor hold Swing +1.04

See also

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References

  1. "L-NP Increasing Lead in WA". Morgan Poll (incorporating the Morgan Gallup Poll). 2520. Melbourne (published 20 December 1993). November 1993. 62% (unchanged) of electors approved of the way Dr. Lawrence does her job as Leader of the Opposition{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Watt, Ian (December 1994). "Political Chronicle - Commonwealth - January to June 1994". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 40 (3): 379–382. 0004-9522.