A by-election was held in the New South Wales state electoral district of Wagga Wagga on 8 September 2018.[1] The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Daryl Maguire, a Liberal-turned-independent. Maguire resigned from Parliament the previous month after admitting to a corruption inquiry that he sought payment over a property deal.[2]
The day after the vote ABC psephologistAntony Green predicted the by-election would be won by independent candidate Joe McGirr.[3] McGirr was later confirmed as the victorious candidate by the New South Wales Electoral Commission, winning 59.6% of the two-candidate preferred vote over Liberal candidate Julia Ham.[4] The Liberal primary vote plunged by more than 28% – a loss of more than half of its primary vote from 2015–resulting in the seat falling out of Liberal hands for the first time since 1957.[5] McGirr only trailed the Liberals by 28 votes on the first count, and was elected on Labor preferences.
The Division of Wagga Wagga had been held by the Liberal party since the 1957 Wagga Wagga state by-election. Sitting Liberal MP Daryl Maguire had held the seat since 1999, winning re-election consecutively to serve a total of 5 terms in the House of Assembly.[6]
By July 2018, Maguire had been placed under investigation by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), regarding possible corruption involving the former Canterbury Council, through his association with former councillor Michael Hawatt.[7] As a consequence, Maguire resigned from the Liberal Party, and from his roles Parliamentary Secretary for the Centenary of ANZAC, Counter Terrorism, Corrections and Veterans. After initially refusing to resign from Parliament, he announced he would do so before its next sitting,[8] thus triggering the by-election.
12 September 2018 – Last day for receipt of postal votes
19 October 2018 – Last day for return of writs
Candidate nominations
Independent candidate Dr Joe McGirr, who had previously contested the seat in 2011 garnering over 30% of the vote, and received 39.7% of the two-candidate-preferred count, running for the Hatton's Independent Team. Incredibly, McGirr achieved a 2.8% swing away from the Liberals in an election year that saw a statewide swing of over 16% towards them. McGirr chose to re-contest the seat after opting to not run in the 2015 New South Wales state election, where Wagga Wagga returned to a traditional two-party-preferred contest.
Labor nominated psychologist and city councillor Dan Hayes under the Country Labor banner, which was synonymous with the New South Wales Labor Party branch. Country Labor was later deregistered in 2021.
Former business manager and independent CountryMinded candidate in 2015, Paul Funnell, opted to run a second time without a political affiliation. Funnell was a member of the Wagga Wagga City Council at the time of the by-election.
The Nationals elected not to field a candidate, following considerable debate between the two Coalition partners.[10] Although Wagga Wagga had been held by the Liberals without interruption since 1957, a number of Nationals believed Wagga Wagga was naturally a National seat.[8] It is located within an area that has long been considered National heartland, and is mostly served by the safe federal National seat of Riverina. At the time, every state electorate held by the Coalition in regional and rural New South Wales (other than on the South Coast) was held by a National MP, the only exception being Albury (currently both Albury and Port Macquarie are held by the Liberal Party).
Early childhood teacher and consultant who runs a specialist sheep farm and was elected to the Snowy Valleys Council at the 2017 local government elections.
The loss of Wagga Wagga reduced the Liberal Party to holding only three rural seats; Albury, Bega, and Goulburn.
The large swing against the Liberals caused Country Labor candidate Dan Hayes to win the two-party-preferred count, being the first candidate to achieve this feat since 1956.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and several senior colleagues acknowledged that Turnbull’s knifing had deterred some voters in Wagga Wagga. However, Federal Senator Jim Molan dismissed those concerns, saying it “wasn’t a factor”.[14]
McGirr ruled out joining the Coalition once in government.[14]
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