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 ...

for the seat of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in 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 ...

was held on 25 October 2014. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of

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 ...

-turned-

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 ...

Tim Owen Timothy Francis Owen (born 29 October 1955) is a former Australian politician and a former deputy commander of the Australian Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the elector ...

, who won the seat at the 2011 election with a 36.7 percent primary and 52.6 percent

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

. The previous New South Wales by-election had seen a 26-point two-party-preferred swing to

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 ...

Background

Newcastle, located in the traditional Labor heartland of the Hunter Region, was won for the Liberals by Owen at the 2011 election on a swing of 26.9 points. Owen was the first Liberal to win the seat since its re-creation in 1927. Before Owen's win, Newcastle had only been out of Labor hands twice in its current incarnation; independent George Keegan held it from 1988 to 1991, and

Bryce Gaudry Bryce James Gaudry (23 November 1942 – 4 October 2019) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Newcastle. Gaudry was educated at Kendall District Rural School, Taree High Scho ...

sat as an independent for part of 2007 after losing Labor preselection. In May 2014, after admitting that he had probably received illegal donations in the 2011 campaign, Owen announced he would not re-nominate for Newcastle in the next state election. On 6 August 2014, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption heard evidence that illegal donations from Newcastle-area developers had funded Owen's campaign, prompting the commission's counsel to question the validity of Owen's victory. Following this disclosure, Owen resigned from the Liberal Party to sit as an independent pending the results of the inquiry. A week later, on 12 August, Owen admitted he had lied to the ICAC about returning one of the illicit donations. He resigned from parliament hours later under pressure.

Dates

Candidates

The eight candidates in ballot paper order are as follows: The Liberals declined to contest the by-election, and also declined to field a candidate in the by-election in Charlestown held on the same day. NSW Liberal director Tony Nutt stated that the Liberals would not contest either by-election "as an explicit act of atonement" for the revelations, and Premier

Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South W ...

said that the Liberals didn't deserve to contest the seats while they were "getting (their) house in order." According to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

election analyst

Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst. Early years and background Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gree ...

, it was the first known occasion of a sitting government in NSW opting not to contest by-elections in seats that it previously held.

Results

, - , , , style="text-align:left;", Palmer United , style="text-align:left;", Jennifer Stefanac , style="text-align:right;", 1,332 , style="text-align:right;", 3.2 , style="text-align:right;", +3.2 , -

( / ) resigned.

References

External links