A by-election was held for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

seat of

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

on 18 October 2008. This was triggered by the resignation of

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Rob Oakeshott Robert James Murray Oakeshott (born 14 December 1969) is a retired Australian politician. He was the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales from 2008, when he won the 2008 Lyne by-electi ...

who was elected to the federal seat of

Lyne Lyne may refer to: Places * Division of Lyne, an electoral division in New South Wales, Australia * Lyne, Denmark, a town in southwest Denmark * Lyne, Surrey a village in southern England * River Lyne, a river of Cumbria in England * Lyne, Sco ...

at 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 ...

the previous month. The

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

for the Port Macquarie by-election was issued on 29 August, which was also when the

rolls Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

closed. Candidate nominations closed on 18 September. The by-election was contested on the same boundaries drawn for Port Macquarie at the 2007 state election. At that election, the independent MP won the seat over the Nationals by a two-party preferred margin of 78.2% to 21.8%.

Background

Created in a 1988 redistribution, Port Macquarie has always been based on

and Laurieton–

Camden Haven Camden Haven is a parish in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 30 km south of the major regional centre of Port Macquarie. The harbour is located where the Camden Haven River empties into the Tasman ...

. It was a safe National Party seat prior to the election of Oakeshott, who was MP for Port Macquarie since 1996, becoming an independent in 2002.

Candidates

The following candidates nominated for the election: *Independent - James Langley, contested federal

for Labor in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. Quit the party over protest at the Iemma state Labor electricity privatisation. * Christian Democratic Party - Bob Waldron *Independent - Lisa Intemann (former Port Macquarie-Hastings councillor) *

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

- Susie Russell * National Party - Leslie Williams, Lake Cathie resident, contested Port Macquarie for the Nationals in

. Ms Williams is a nurse at

Base Hospital and current chairman of the party's Port Macquarie Electorate Council. *Independent - Tony Galati *Independent - Grant Rogers *Independent - Bob Sharpham *Independent - Peter Besseling *Independent - Jamie Harrison (former Port Macquarie-Hastings councillor) *Independent - Cameron Price

Campaign

Federal

Hume Hume most commonly refers to: * David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher Hume may also refer to: People * Hume (surname) * Hume (given name) * James Hume Nisbet (1849–1923), Scottish-born novelist and artist In fiction * Hume, the ...

Alby Schultz Albert John "Alby" Schultz (29 May 193914 July 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to August 2013, representing the Division of Hume in New South Wales. Biogra ...

was seen campaigning a few times for Besseling, referring to him as "the pick of the candidates", with similar support from Senator

Bill Heffernan William Daniel Heffernan (born 3 March 1943), is an Australian former politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Senate representing the state of New South Wales from September 1996 to May 2016. Early life and background Heffernan was bo ...

, sparking anger and resentment within the

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

Results

Despite

moving into federal politics, another independent, Peter Besseling, retained the seat, winning on the primary and two party vote.

() resigned to successfully contest the federal seat of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Macquarie State By-Election, 2008 2008 elections in Australia New South Wales state by-elections 2008 in New South Wales October 2008 events in Australia

Background

Candidates

Campaign

Results

See also

References