The 1990 Fremantle state by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held on 26 May 1990 for the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n Legislative Assembly seat of

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. The election occurred on the same day as the 1990 Maylands state by-election. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

and former Deputy Premier David Parker on 26 April 1990. The seat of Fremantle, first established in 1890, was considered to be a safe seat for the Labor Party.

Timeline

Candidates

The by-election attracted eleven candidates. Of these, four were notable—

Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...

, the Labor candidate, was the secretary of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union. Arthur Marshall, the Liberal candidate, was a veteran sports commentator for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

who had also founded a tennis academy.

Christabel Chamarette Christabel Marguerite Alain Chamarette, sometimes Christabel Bridge (born 1 May 1948) was a Greens Senator for Western Australia from 1992 to 1996. Personal life Born in Hyderabad, India in 1948, Chamarette is of Anglo-Indian and French Huguen ...

, for the new

Greens WA Greens Western Australia, commonly known as the Greens WA, is a List of member parties of the Australian Greens, member party of the Australian Greens in Western Australia. The Greens (WA) was formed following the merger of the Western Australia ...

party, was a psychologist and social worker. John Troy was the former Labor member for the seat from 1977 to 1980.

Results

Jim McGinty held the seat for the Labor Party. Despite winning the seat comfortably, his votes trailed those of the Liberal candidate by several hundred votes until the tenth count, when the Greens preferences and through them the majority of John Troy's preferences were distributed.

References

{{reflist Fremantle state by-election Western Australian state by-elections Fremantle state by-election, 1990 Fremantle state by-election History of Fremantle