1997 Fraser by-election

Last updated

1997 Fraser by-election
Flag of the Australian Capital Territory.svg
1 February 1997
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Candidate Steve Dargavel Cheryl HillDierk von Behrens
Party Labor Independent Greens
Popular vote25,8679,6425,584
Percentage49.10%18.30%10.60%
SwingDecrease2.svg1.41ppIncrease2.svg18.30ppIncrease2.svg0.70pp
TPP 65.24%34.76%
TPP swingIncrease2.svg7.92ppIncrease2.svg34.76pp

MP before election

John Langmore
Labor

Elected MP

Steve Dargavel
Labor

The 1997 Fraser by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Fraser in the Australian Capital Territory on 1 February 1997. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's John Langmore on 6 December 1996. The writ for the by-election was issued on 30 December 1996.

Contents

Background

John Langmore had held the seat of Fraser since the 1984 election, but resigned to take up the post of Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development at the United Nations. [1]

Cheryl Hill had previously stood for election in Fraser as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1996 federal election. She had also unsuccessfully stood for election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Bulli in the 1991 New South Wales election. By the time of the Fraser by-election, Hill had resigned from the Liberal Party because of the party's attitude to race and immigration, and chose to run as an independent. [2]

Results

1997 Fraser by-election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labor Steve Dargavel 25,86749.10−1.41
Independent Cheryl Hill9,64218.30+18.30
Greens Dierk von Behrens5,58410.60+0.70
Independent Alice Chu4,1357.85+7.85
Against Further Immigration Angela Walker1,8703.55+3.55
Call to Australia John Richard Miller1,7663.35+3.35
Independent Douglas S. Thompson1,4562.76+2.76
Reclaim Australia John Hutchinson1,2282.33+2.33
Advance Australia Kevin Connor4900.93+0.93
Independent Joanne Clarke4550.86+0.86
Independent Jim Bernard1890.36+0.36
Total formal votes52,68294.08−2.66
Informal votes3,3135.92+2.66
Turnout 55,99585.25−11.59
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor Steve Dargavel 34,37065.24+7.92
Independent Cheryl Hill18,31234.76+34.76
Labor hold Swing N/A

Aftermath

The by-election was won easily by Steve Dargavel, the ALP candidate, who held the seat until 1998 when he lost preselection in favour of Bob McMullan.

Dargavel's election saw only a minor swing away from the ALP, a remarkable result since the by-election fielded ten candidates in contrast to three candidates in the previous general election in 1996.

In contrast to Dargavel as the ALP candidate, the absence of the Liberal Party in the by-election and with their 1996 candidate Cheryl Hill running as an independent, the by-election saw Hill's personal vote dropped more than 20% in the primary vote and a fall of 8% in the two-candidate preferred basis.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Democrats</span> Political party in Australia

The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 Australian federal election</span>

The 1996 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the 38th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 2 March 1996. All 148 seats of the House of Representatives and 40 seats of the 76-seat Senate were up for election. The Liberal/National Coalition led by Opposition Leader John Howard of the Liberal Party and coalition partner Tim Fischer of the National Party defeated the incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Prime Minister Paul Keating in a landslide victory. The Coalition won 94 seats in the House of Representatives, which is the largest number of seats held by a federal government to date, and only the second time a party had won over 90 seats at a federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coalition (Australia)</span> Group of centre-right political parties in Australia

The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as the Coalition or the LNP, is an alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. The two partners in the Coalition are the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia. Its main opponent is the Australian Labor Party (ALP); the two forces are often regarded as operating in a two-party system. The Coalition was last in government from 2013 to 2022. The group is led by Peter Dutton, who succeeded Scott Morrison after the 2022 federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Division of Gilmore</span> Australian federal electoral division

The Division of Gilmore is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.

This is a list of members of the Australian House of Representatives from 1996 to 1998, as elected at the 1996 federal election.

This is a list of members of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 1999. Half of the state senators had been elected at the March 1993 election and had terms due to finish on 30 June 1999; the other half of the state senators were elected at the March 1996 election and had terms due to finish on 30 June 2002. The territory senators were elected at the March 1996 election and their terms ended at the next federal election, which was October 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral district of Marrickville</span> Former state electoral district of New South Wales, Australia

Marrickville was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It was an urban electorate in Sydney's inner west, centred on the suburb of Marrickville from which it took its name. At the time of its abolition it also included the suburbs of Camperdown, Darlington, Enmore, Lewisham, Newtown, Petersham, Stanmore and parts of Dulwich Hill and Erskineville as well as the University of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lang Labor</span> Political party in Australia

Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. It controlled the New South Wales branch of the ALP throughout most of the 1920s and 1930s. The faction broke away to form separate parliamentary parties on several occasions and stood competing candidates against the ALP in state and federal elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Queensland state election</span>

An election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 9 September 2006 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly, after being announced by Premier Peter Beattie on 15 August 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 New South Wales state election</span> State election for New South Wales, Australia in March 2007

The 2007 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday, 24 March 2007. The entire Legislative Assembly and half of the Legislative Council was up for election. The Labor Party led by Morris Iemma won a fourth four-year term against the Liberal-National coalition led by Peter Debnam.

John Vance Langmore is an Australian academic and politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1984 to 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 Australian federal election</span>

The 1983 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 5 March 1983. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives and all 64 seats in the Senate were up for election, following a double dissolution. The incumbent Coalition government which had been in power since 1975, led by Malcolm Fraser and Doug Anthony, was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labor Party led by Bob Hawke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1977 Australian federal election</span>

The 1977 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1977. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate were up for election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 Australian federal election</span>

The 1972 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, as well as a single Senate seat in Queensland. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister William McMahon, was defeated by the opposition Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. Labor's victory ended 23 years of successive Coalition governments that began in 1949 and started the three-year Whitlam Labor Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Cunningham by-election</span> Australian federal by-election

The 2002 Cunningham by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Cunningham in New South Wales on 19 October 2002. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's Stephen Martin on 16 August 2002. The writ for the by-election was issued on 16 September 2002.

The 1996 Blaxland by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Blaxland in New South Wales on 15 June 1996. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's Paul Keating on 23 April 1996. The writ for the by-election was issued on 13 May 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 New South Wales state election</span> Elections to the 55th parliament of New South Wales

The 2011 New South Wales state election held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year-incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal–National Coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1953 New South Wales state election</span> State election for New South Wales, Australia in February 1953

The 1953 New South Wales state election was held on 14 February 1953. It was conducted in single member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting and was held on boundaries created at a 1952 redistribution. The election was for all of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

The history of the Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation. Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia. Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia, 1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies.

The ACT Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch) and commonly referred to simply as ACT Labor, is the Australian Capital Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The branch is the current ruling party in the ACT and is led by Andrew Barr, who has concurrently served as chief minister since 2014. It is one of two major parties in the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly.

References