2015 South-West Coast state by-election
31 October 2015
Electoral district of South-West Coast in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
  First party Second party
 
IND
Candidate Roma Britnell Roy Reekie
Party Liberal Independent
Popular vote 15,486 6,512
Percentage 40.0% 16.8%
Swing Decrease17.0pp Increase16.8pp
TPP 60.4% 39.4%
TPP swing Decrease0.4pp Increase39.4pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
ACP
Candidate Michael Neoh Jim Doukas
Party National Country
Popular vote 5,581 4,005
Percentage 14.4% 10.3%
Swing Increase14.4pp Increase8.0pp
The electoral district of South-West Coast in south-west rural Victoria is dominated by the town of Warrnambool, but also includes Portland, Port Fairy, Koroit, Heywood and Macarthur.
MP before election

Denis Napthine
Liberal

 Elected MP

Roma Britnell
Liberal

A by-election for the seat of South-West Coast in the Victorian Legislative Assembly was held on 31 October 2015. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Premier Denis Napthine on 3 September 2015. Former Transport Minister Terry Mulder resigned his seat representing the adjacent district of Polwarth on the same day as Napthine.[1] The by-election for Polwarth was held on the same day.

Candidates

11 candidates in ballot paper order
Party Candidate Background
  Independent Rodney Van De Hoef Warrnambool engineer.[2]
  Liberal Roma Britnell Dairy farmer. Vice President of the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria.[3]
  Independent Roy Reekie Labor candidate for Warrnambool in 1999 and South-West Coast in 2002, 2006 and 2014. Narrowly lost 2002 on a 49.3 percent two-party vote.[4]
  Country Jim Doukas Shire of Moyne councillor.[5]
  National Michael Neoh Mayor of Warrnambool.[6]
  Independent Pete Smith Independent Liberal. Dairy industry executive, advisor to BlueScope Steel, AWB and Australia Post, army press officer, naval officer.[7]
  Greens Thomas Campbell Greens candidate for South-West Coast in 2014.[8]
  Independent Swampy Marsh Warrnambool dairy and chicken farmer.[9][10] Subject of the 2015 film Oddball.[11]
  Animal Justice Jennifer Gamble Warrnambool nurse. Animal Justice candidate for Western Victoria Region in 2014.[12]
  Christians Lillian Len
  Independent Michael McCluskey Former veterinarian. Independent candidate for South-West Coast in 2014.[13][14]

The Labor government did not contest the by-elections in the safe Liberal seats of South-West Coast and Polwarth.[15]

How-to-vote cards

How-to-vote cards are distributed to voters at polling stations to provide information with how the candidate suggests preferences be allocated. Candidates and parties suggesting preferences are shown in each column of the table below. Michael McCluskey ran an open card at this by-election.

Van De Hoef[16] Liberal[17] Reekie[17] Country[18] National[17] Smith Greens[17] Marsh[17] AJP[17] Christians[17] McCluskey[16]
Van de Hoef 1 11 10 4 4 No card 7 9 7 5
Liberal 11 1 11 9 2 8 11 10 3
Reekie 2 6 1 7 3 2 6 3 9
Country 3 3 4 1 5 11 2 9 2
National 4 2 5 10 1 9 10 11 4
Smith 5 5 3 6 6 5 4 5 7
Greens 6 8 2 11 7 1 8 2 11
Marsh 7 10 6 2 8 6 1 4 8
Animal Justice 8 7 7 8 9 4 5 1 10
Christians 9 4 8 3 10 10 7 8 1
McCluskey 10 9 9 5 11 3 8 6 6 1

Polling

South-West Coast polling
Date Primary vote
LIB Reekie NAT OTH
23 October 2015[19] 37% 24% 18% 21%

Result

2015 South-West Coast state by-election[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Roma Britnell 15,486 40.0 −17.0
Independent Roy Reekie 6,512 16.8 +16.8
National Michael Neoh 5,581 14.4 +14.4
Country Jim Doukas 4,005 10.3 +8.0
Greens Thomas Campbell 2,938 7.6 −2.2
Independent Swampy Marsh 1,137 2.9 +2.9
Independent Liberal Pete Smith 695 1.8 +1.8
Independent Rodney Van de Hoef 677 1.7 +1.7
Independent Michael McCluskey 616 1.6 −0.0
Christians Lillian Len 579 1.5 +1.5
Animal Justice Jennifer Gamble 490 1.3 +1.3
Total formal votes 38,716 93.8 −2.2
Informal votes 2,578 6.2 +2.2
Turnout 41,294 91.1 −3.8
Two-candidate-preferred result
Liberal Roma Britnell 23,455 60.6 −0.4
Independent Roy Reekie 15,261 39.4 +39.4
Liberal hold Swing−0.4

Roma Britnell retained the seat on preferences for the Liberals. Roy Reekie was second in the primary count.[20][21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Former Victorian premier Denis Napthine, senior MP Terry Mulder both retire from politics triggering by-elections". ABC News. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Sinnott, Alex (2 October 2015). "Eleventh hour bid by poll aspirants". The Standard. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Sinnott, Alex (3 September 2015). "Britnell tipped to enter the political fray". The Australian Dairyfamer. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Judd, Bridget (7 September 2015). "Denis Napthine refuses to endorse Liberal candidate Donna Petrovich for his former seat". ABC News. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  5. ↑ 2015 Polwarth by-election: ABC
  6. ↑ Sinnot, Alex. "Neoh opens mayoral chair". Warrnambool Standard. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "Ind Lib could split Vic by-election vote". Nine News. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Warrnambool Mayor Michael Neoh still keen on South-West Coast candidacy despite preselection hiccup". ABC News. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Jefferson, Andrew (14 June 2015). "Warrnambool farmer Swampy Marsh refuses to stop selling unpasteurised milk at market". Herald Sun. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  10. ↑ "Egg-straordinary bid for South West Coast". The Standard. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Oddball election set for region". Mayne Gazette. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Sinnott, Alex (11 November 2014). "Warrnambool Animal Justice Party candidate wants jumps racing banned". The Standard. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  13. ↑ Sinnott, Alex (25 September 2015). "'Independent Liberal' says the party's over". The Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  14. ↑ Sinnott, Alex. "Michael McCluskey's burning political interest". The Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Sullivan, Kath (3 September 2015). "Labor won't contest by-elections in South-West Coast and Polwarth". The Weekly Times. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  16. 1 2 "State District By-elections 2015 Registered How To Vote Cards by Independent - Victorian Electoral Commission". www.vec.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "State District By-elections 2015 South-West Coast District Registered How To Vote Cards - Victorian Electoral Commission". www.vec.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Australian Country Party. "HTVdoukasprepoll.pdf" (PDF). Australian Country Party. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. ↑ Sinnott, Alex (24 October 2015). "Close poll". The Standard. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  20. 1 2 State District By-elections 2015 : South-West Coast District, VEC.
  21. ↑ 2015 Polwarth by-election commentary, ABC.
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