Periodic elections for the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, H ...

were held on 2 May 2009. The three seats up for election were Derwent, held by

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 ...

MLC

Michael Aird Michael Anthony Aird (born 12 April 1949 in Melbourne) is a former Tasmanian politician. He was an ALP member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council in the Division of Derwent since 1995. From 2006 to 2010, he was the treasurer of Tasmania, one ...

;

Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

, held by retiring independent MLC

Norma Jamieson Norma Mary Jamieson (born 23 May 1941, in Ulverstone) is an Australian politician. She was an independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council (upper house) in the electoral division of Mersey An election is a formal group decis ...

; and

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

, held by independent MLC

Ivan Dean Ivan Noel Dean (born 21 April 1945) is an Australian politician. He was an independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council from 2003 to 2021, representing the electorate of Windermere. He also served as Mayor of Launceston from 2005 t ...

. These seats were last contested in 2003.

Derwent

Derwent had been held by

for Labor since a 1995 by-election; he had previously served in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

from 1979 to 1986 and from 1989 to 1995. A minister in Michael Field's government from 1989 to 1992, he had served as

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

and Minister for Racing since 2006. The

Tasmanian Greens The Tasmanian Greens are a political party in Australia which developed from numerous environmental campaigns in Tasmania, including the flooding of Lake Pedder and the Franklin Dam campaign. They form a part of the Australian Greens. The party ...

endorsed Susan Gunter, a shearer and former environmental lawyer. Independent candidate Jenny Branch, Glenorchy Alderman and President of the Tasmanian Parents and Friends Association, was a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

member but resigned from the party prior to the election. The former federal member for

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

Harry Quick Harry Vernon Quick (born 28 June 1941, Melbourne), is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 until 2007, representing the electorate of Franklin. He sat as an Australian Labor Party repre ...

, initially nominated as a Greens candidate, but he withdrew his nomination. Since Aird won a majority on the first vote, no preference count was conducted.

Derwent Results

Mersey

Independent MLC for Mersey

decided to retire after one term, having been first elected in 2003. Four candidates, all independents, contested the election.

Mike Gaffney Michael Victor Gaffney (born 30 November 1959) is an Australian politician. He has been an Independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council since 2009, representing the seat of Mersey. Born in Devonport, Gaffney was trained as a teacher ...

was a teacher and public servant who had been Mayor of

Latrobe Council Latrobe Council is a local government body in Tasmania, situated in the north of the state, east of Devonport. The Latrobe local government area is classified as rural and has a population of 11,329, it encompasses the principal town, Latro ...

since 2002 and President of the Tasmanian Local Government Association since 2006. Although running as an independent, Gaffney had previously run for the Labor Party at the 2002 state election and received some support from the Labor government. Norma Jamieson's daughter Carolynn was a small business owner. Lynn Laycock had been Mayor of Devonport since 2005; she had some

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

connections, having worked as an assistant to Liberal

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Tony Rundle Anthony Maxwell Rundle AO (born 5 March 1939 in Scottsdale, Tasmania) was the Premier of the Australian State of Tasmania from 18 March 1996 to 14 September 1998. He succeeded Ray Groom and was succeeded himself by Jim Bacon. He is a Liberal w ...

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...

was running primarily on the issue of

Mersey Community Hospital The Mersey Hospital is a public hospital at Latrobe near Devonport in Tasmania. Like the North West Regional Hospital, it is operated by the Tasmanian Health Service - North West Region, which is part of the Tasmanian government's Department of ...

, which had passed to Commonwealth control the previous year. He had previously worked for Labor MPs and was a restaurateur at the time of the election.

Mersey Results

Windermere

Independent MLC for Windermere

had first been elected in 2003, when he defeated independent Labor member

Silvia Smith Silvia Joy Smith (22 December 1939 – 6 March 2020) was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), serving in the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996 and the Tasmanian Legislative Council f ...

. In 2005 he was elected as Mayor of Launceston, which attracted some criticism for holding the dual positions; Dean opted to donate his mayoral salary to charity. He lost the mayoralty in 2008 but remained a councillor; his defeat was reckoned to have something to do with his support for the

Gunns pulp mill The Bell Bay Pulp Mill, also known as the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill or Gunns Pulp Mill, was a proposed $2.3 billion pulp mill in which the former Gunns Limited Gunns Limited was a major forestry enterprise located in Tasmania, Australia ...

. His highest-profile challenger was

Kathryn Hay Kathryn Isobel Hay (born 24 November 1975 in Launceston) is an Australian Labor politician and former member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the electorate of Bass. She was first elected in the 2002 election. Hay was the first woman of ...

, who served as

MHA for Bass from 2002 to 2006. Hay was running as an independent Labor candidate. The

endorsed small business owner and maritime scientist

Peter Whish-Wilson Peter Stuart Whish-Wilson (born 24 February 1968) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Tasmania since 2012, representing the Australian Greens. Formerly a lecturer in economics at the University of Tasmania, Whish-Wilson was ...

. Independent Peter Kaye was a prominent local radio presenter campaigning mainly on increasing funding for

Launceston General Hospital The Launceston General Hospital (LGH) is one of the three main public hospitals in Tasmania, Australia. It is located in Launceston and serves the north of the state. Services provided include Cardiology, Renal, Gastroenterology, Haematology ...

. Launceston councillor and former Labor Party member Ted Sands was also standing as an independent.

Windermere Results

References

{{Tasmanian elections 2009 elections in Australia Elections in Tasmania 2000s in Tasmania May 2009 events in Australia