1998 Mulgrave state by-election

Last updated

A by-election was held in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Mulgrave on 5 December 1998. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting One Nation member Charles Rappolt.

Contents

The by-election was won by Labor candidate Warren Pitt.

Background

Charles Rappolt came to parliament as one of 11 One Nation candidates elected at the 1998 state election. Rappolt won the seat of Mulgrave with 54.2% of the two party preferred vote. [1] However, Rappolt found it difficult to cope with the pressures of public life and resigned his seat just four months into his term.

Candidates

The by-election pitted two former members for Mulgrave against each other. The National Party endorsed Naomi Wilson who had held the seat from 1995 to 1998 before her defeat to Rappolt at the 1998 state election. The Labor Party preselected Warren Pitt, member for Mulgrave from 1989 to 1995 before his defeat to Wilson at the 1995 state election. Pitt had also unsuccessfully stood for the seat at the 1998 state election, and would have won if not for Coalition preferences leaking to Rappolt.

One Nation chose Peter Boniface to defend the seat.

Result

With One Nation failing to repeat their strong state election performance, the contest reverted to a more typical Labor versus National contest. Labor's Warren Pitt prevailed narrowly.

Mulgrave state by-election, 1998 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Labor Warren Pitt 9,44642.35+5.33
National Naomi Wilson 8,55038.33+8.38
One Nation Peter Boniface3,47015.56−15.48
Greens Jonathan Metcalfe5732.57+2.57
Independent Norm Mathison2661.19+1.19
Total formal votes22,20598.99
Informal votes2281.01
Turnout 22,43385.83
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Warren Pitt 10,39450.63+4.8
National Naomi Wilson 10,13549.37+49.37
Labor gain from One Nation Swing N/A

Aftermath

Where previously the Labor government of Peter Beattie had governed in the minority—they held 44 seats in an 89-seat parliament and depended upon the support of independent MP Peter Wellington—their victory in Mulgrave gave the government an outright majority of 45 seats.

See also

Related Research Articles

Pauline Hansons One Nation Political party in Australia

Pauline Hanson's One Nation, also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a political party in Australia. One Nation was founded in 1997, by member of parliament Pauline Hanson and her advisors David Ettridge and David Oldfield after Hanson was disendorsed as a federal candidate for the Liberal Party of Australia. The disendorsement came before the 1996 federal election because of comments she made about Indigenous Australians. Hanson sat as an independent for one year before forming Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

David Ernest Oldfield is a former Australian politician who co-founded and was deputy leader of the Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

Peter Beattie 36th Premier of Queensland, and rugby league administrator

Peter Douglas Beattie is a former Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007.

1998 Australian federal election

The 1998 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the 39th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 3 October 1998. All 148 seats of the House of Representatives and 40 seats of the 76-seat Senate were up for election. The incumbent centre-right Liberal/National Coalition government led by Prime Minister John Howard of the Liberal Party and coalition partner Tim Fischer of the National Party defeated the centre-left Australian Labor Party opposition led by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley despite losing the two party preferred popular vote.

Liberal National Party of Queensland Political party in Queensland, Australia

The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a centre-right political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. At a federal level and in most other states, the two parties remain distinct and operate as a Coalition. The LNP is a division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and an affiliate of the National Party of Australia.

2001 Queensland state election Australian state election.

An election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 17 February 2001 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The result of the election was the return of the Labor Party (ALP) government of Premier Peter Beattie, with an increased majority. Labor won 66 seats, easily the most it has ever won in Queensland and one of Labor's best-ever results nationwide. There was a 10.07% swing towards Labor, while One Nation suffered a 13.98% swing against it, losing eight seats.

1998 Queensland state election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 13 June 1998 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

Charles Robert "Charlie" Rappolt was an Australian politician. A member of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, Rappolt spent five turbulent months in the Parliament of Queensland in 1998.

This is a list of members of the 49th Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1998 to 2001, as elected at the 1998 state election held on 13 June 1998.

Shaun Christopher Nelson is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1998 to 2001, representing the electorate of Tablelands. He was elected as one of 11 MPs of the One Nation Party at the 1998 state election, before resigning from the party to sit as an independent in February 1999. He served out the remainder of his term before being defeated by One Nation candidate Rosa Lee Long at the 2001 election. He currently serves as a Maritime Warfare Officer in the Royal Australian Navy.

Peter William Wellington is an Australian politician. He was the independent member for Nicklin in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2017, and served as Speaker from 2015 to 2017. Wellington has held the balance of power in the legislature twice in his career, and both times saw him give support to Labor-led minority governments.

Manfred Cross Australian politician

Manfred Douglas Cross is a retired Australian politician. He was educated at various state schools in Brisbane in Queensland before joining the Queensland public service and later, in 1961, becoming a member of the Australian parliament. Along with Bill Hayden and Doug McClelland, Cross is the earliest elected Labor MP still alive.

2009 Queensland state election

The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a fifth consecutive term in office for her party. Bligh thus became the first female Premier of any Australian State elected in her own right.

Frederick Warren Pitt is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1989 to 1995 and 1998 to 2009.

Curtis Warren Pitt is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland since 2009, representing the district of Mulgrave. On 14 February 2015, he was sworn in as Treasurer of Queensland.

2012 Queensland state election state election

The 2012 Queensland state election was held on 24 March 2012 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament.

Naomi Kate Wynn Wilson is a former teacher and Tanzanian-born Australian politician. Daughter of the second bishop of Central Tanganyika, William Wynn-Jones and Ruth L. Taylor and great grand daughter of former senator and Premier of Tasmania, Henry Dobson, she was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1995 to 1998, representing the district of Mulgrave.

A by-election was held in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Bundamba on 5 February 2000. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting Labor member Bob Gibbs. It was held concurrently with the Woodridge state by-election.

Charles Bernard English (1902–1974) was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

2020 Queensland state election Australian state election

The 2020 Queensland state election is scheduled to be held on Saturday 31 October 2020 to elect the 57th Parliament of Queensland. All 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly of the unicameral parliament will be up for election.

References

  1. "1998 Queensland election". Psephos.
  2. "Mulgrave By-election" (PDF). Electoral Commission of Queensland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2009.