2001 Aston by-election
14 July 2001
  First party Second party
 
Candidate Chris Pearce Kieran Boland
Party Liberal Labor
Popular vote 31,640 28,716
Percentage 40.73% 36.96%
Swing Decrease 7.76pp Decrease 1.55pp
TPP 50.58% 49.42%
TPP swing Decrease 3.36pp Increase 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.

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
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Chris Pearce 31,640 40.73 −7.76
Labor Kieran Boland 28,716 36.96 −1.55
Democrats Pierre Harcourt 6,271 8.07 +0.54
Independent Garry Scates 3,401 4.38 +4.38
Greens Mick Kir 1,877 2.42 +2.42
One Nation June Scott 1,369 1.76 −1.13
Independent Peter O'Loughlin 1,160 1.49 +1.49
HEMP Graeme Dunstan 711 0.92 +0.92
Liberals for Forests Luke James Chamberlain 680 0.88 +0.88
No GST Mark Sloan 618 0.80 +0.80
Citizens Electoral Council Doug Mitchell 334 0.43 +0.43
Josephine Cox 328 0.42 +0.42
Independent Steve Raskovy 227 0.29 +0.29
Hope Tim Petherbridge 232 0.30 +0.30
Mark Ward 126 0.16 +0.16
Total formal votes 77,690 94.16 −3.01
Informal votes 4,819 5.84 +3.01
Turnout 82,509 92.54 −4.10
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Chris Pearce 39,299 50.58 −3.66
Labor Kieran Boland 38,391 49.42 +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.
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