2001 Aston by-election

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2001 Aston by-election
Flag of Victoria (Australia).svg
14 July 2001
 First partySecond party
  Chris Pearce.jpg Labor Placeholder.png
Candidate Chris Pearce Kieran Boland
Party Liberal Labor
Popular vote31,64028,716
Percentage40.73%36.96%
SwingDecrease2.svg 7.76ppDecrease2.svg 1.55pp
TPP 50.58%49.42%
TPP swingDecrease2.svg 3.36ppIncrease2.svg 3.36pp

MP before election

Peter Nugent
Liberal

Elected MP

Chris Pearce
Liberal

The 2001 Aston by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Aston in Victoria on 14 July 2001. The by-election was triggered by the death of the sitting member, the Liberal Party of Australia's Peter Nugent, on 24 April 2001. The writ for the by-election was issued on 1 June 2001.

Contents

Background

The by-election was an important test for the Liberal Party. The federal Liberal government had introduced a controversial Goods and Services Tax just over a year before, and unpopular sentiment surrounding the government and its GST were believed to have led to the defeat of the Coalition in Western Australia and Queensland state elections in landslides. [1] The Liberals had also lost the seat of Ryan in a recent by-election, and the ALP led by Kim Beazley was ahead in opinion polls.

Results

Aston by-election, 2001
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Chris Pearce 31,64040.73−7.76
Labor Kieran Boland28,71636.96−1.55
Democrats Pierre Harcourt6,2718.07+0.54
Independent Garry Scates3,4014.38+4.38
Greens Mick Kir1,8772.42+2.42
One Nation June Scott1,3691.76−1.13
Independent Peter O'Loughlin1,1601.49+1.49
HEMP Graeme Dunstan 7110.92+0.92
Liberals for Forests Luke James Chamberlain6800.88+0.88
No GST Mark Sloan6180.80+0.80
Citizens Electoral Council Doug Mitchell3340.43+0.43
Josephine Cox3280.42+0.42
Independent Steve Raskovy2270.29+0.29
Hope Tim Petherbridge2320.30+0.30
Mark Ward1260.16+0.16
Total formal votes77,69094.16−3.01
Informal votes4,8195.84+3.01
Turnout 82,50992.54−4.10
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Chris Pearce 39,29950.58−3.66
Labor Kieran Boland38,39149.42+3.66
Liberal hold Swing −3.66

Aftermath

Chris Pearce won the by-election, retaining Aston for the Liberal Party, but suffering a swing of 3.66%. Prime Minister John Howard appeared on the first episode of the ABC program Insiders the next day, where he suggested that Labor's electoral momentum had been held in check, and the government was back in the game:

I believe that the Government is well and truly back in the game. If there were an unstoppable momentum for Labor to win the federal election, they'd have rolled us over in Aston.

John Howard, Insiders, ABC TV, 15 July 2001 [1]

The Howard government reportedly spent $700,000 on political advertising in the lead-up to the by-election. [2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Coorey, Phillip: No glorious July for PM this year, The Sydney Morning Herald , 13 July 2007.
  2. Cleary, Paul (3 January 2002). "Coalition spent $700,000 on Aston ads". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 12 March 2023.