A general election for the
56th Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
(NSW) was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the
Legislative Assembly using
optional preferential voting
One of the ways in which ranked voting systems vary is whether an individual vote must express a minimum number of preferences to avoid being considered invalid ("spoiled" or "informal"). Possibilities are:
* Full preferential voting (FPV) requir ...
. Members were also elected to 21 of the 42 seats in the
Legislative Council using optional preferential
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
voting. The election was conducted by the
New South Wales Electoral Commission
The New South Wales Electoral Commission is a statutory agency with responsibility for the administration, organisation, and supervision of elections in New South Wales. It reports to the NSW Government Department of Premier and Cabinet.
...
.
The one-term incumbent
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 ...
/
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
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 ...
Government led by
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 ...
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 ...
and
Deputy Premier
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
Troy Grant
Troy Wayne Grant (born 11 February 1970) is an Australian politician and former police officer. Grant has been the Inspector-General of Water Compliance (IGWC) since August 2021, and is Australia’s first in this position. Previously, he was t ...
was re-elected to a second four-year term with a slightly reduced majority in the
Legislative Assembly, where government is formed. The main Opposition
Labor Party under
Luke Foley
Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 July 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...
won an increased share of the vote in most districts, though the party lost ground in some key races, including Foley's seat of
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
. It managed to take 14 seats off the Coalition, mostly in areas of Labor "heartland" lost to the Liberals during the
landslide in 2011. Most notably, Labor regained seats in
west Sydney, the
Central Coast and the lower
Hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
.
Baird had campaigned on a controversial plan to lease 49 per cent of the state-owned electricity distribution network (known as the "poles and wires") to deliver an ambitious transport and social infrastructure program. Labor, supported by
the state's union movement, ran on an anti-privatisation platform, while also promising a moratorium on
coal-seam gas (CSG) extraction, and encouraging voters to register a protest vote against the Liberal-led Coalition federal government. Although the poles-and-wires proposal was poorly received in opinion polls, Baird himself was widely liked by the electorate.
Candidate nominations closed on 12 March and early voting began on the 16th of March.
The election was notable for NSW in that:
*this was the first time since
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
that a non-Labor government had been reelected with an overall majority
*one of the main party leaders, Labor's Foley, was not a member of the Legislative Assembly prior to the election
*the
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 ...
won three seats in the Assembly, a record for a mainland state, and came close to winning a fourth
*voters could vote online for the second time at a State general election using the iVote system run by the
New South Wales Electoral Commission
The New South Wales Electoral Commission is a statutory agency with responsibility for the administration, organisation, and supervision of elections in New South Wales. It reports to the NSW Government Department of Premier and Cabinet.
...
*Mike Baird became the first non-elected Liberal Premier to be elected in his own right.
Results
Lower house
Seats changing hands
Eleven seats won by the Liberals and Nationals in 2011 went to other parties in 2015. Incumbent Liberal MPs were defeated by Labor challengers in
Blue Mountains,
Campbelltown,
Granville,
Rockdale and
Strathfield
Strathfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the Municipality of Strathfield. A ...
. Incumbents
Don Page (a National) and
Robyn Parker
Robyn Mary Parker (born 3 August 1958), is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Maitland, Maitland for the Liberal Party from 2011 New South Wales state ...
(a Liberal) retired, with the Greens taking Page's seat of
Ballina and Labor taking Parker's seat of
Maitland
Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
.
Londonderry,
Port Stephens and
Wyong
Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area.
Hist ...
,
whose Liberal incumbents had been sitting as independents since 2013 and retired in 2015, returned to Labor. Former Liberal Edwards, in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, re-contested the seat as an independent but lost to Labor challenger
Yasmin Catley
Yasmin Maree Catley is an Australian politician who was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Electoral district of Swansea, Swansea for the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party at the 2015 ...
.
Miranda Labor MP Collier had retired at the 2011 election, with the Liberals' Annesley picking up the seat on a swing of nearly 22 points. When Annesley quit politics in 2013, Collier returned to contest the by-election, securing a 27-point swing – the largest-ever at a NSW by-election. Collier decided not to re-contest the seat in 2015, and the Liberals'
Eleni Petinos
Eleni Marie Petinos is an Australian state politician in New South Wales. She served as the Minister for Small Business and the Minister for Fair Trading in the Perrottet ministry from December 2021 until her service was ceased on 31 July 2022 ...
took it with 63 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote.
Northern Tablelands
The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...
, won by an independent in 2011 and lost to the Nationals in 2013, was retained by the Nationals.
Charlestown and
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 ...
, won by the Liberals in 2011 and lost to Labor at by-elections in 2014, were retained by Labor.
Following the
2013 redistribution (see below) the ABC recalculated the 2011 election results based on the new boundaries. These calculations deemed
Macquarie Fields
Macquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and ...
, a Labor marginal, notionally Liberal. The new seat of
Prospect
Prospect may refer to:
General
* Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer
* Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team
* Prospect (mining ...
, which replaced Liberal-held
Smithfield, was also considered notionally Liberal, albeit by a reduced margin. In Macquarie Fields, incumbent Labor MP
Andrew McDonald did not re-contest and Labor candidate
Anoulack Chanthivong
Anoulack Chanthivong (born 20 July 1977) is an Australian politician who was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Macquarie Fields for the Labor Party at the 2015 New South Wales state election.
Chanthivong wa ...
defeated Liberal
Pat Farmer
Patrick Francis Daniel Farmer (born 14 March 1962) is an ultra-marathon athlete, motivational speaker, and former Australian politician who served as a Member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the seat of Macarthur in so ...
. In Prospect, the sitting Smithfield MP,
Andrew Rohan
Andrew Baijan Rohan (born 30 June 1948 in Iraq), an Australian politician of Assyrian descent, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Smithfield for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2015.
Early years and backgroun ...
, was defeated by Labor candidate
Hugh McDermott.
Upper house
Background
![NSW Legislative Assembly (Post 2011)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/NSW_Legislative_Assembly_%28Post_2011%29.svg)
Labor governed NSW from 1995 until 2011. Over the course of its last two terms, a succession of leadership changes, criminal convictions, corruption scandals and cancelled infrastructure projects began to eat away at Labor's support base. In a harbinger of things to come, the previously safe Labor seats of
Ryde
Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...
and
Penrith were both resoundingly lost to the Liberals, in both cases turning into safe Liberal seats in one stroke.
In March 2011, the Liberals and Nationals, led by the Liberals'
Barry O'Farrell
Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minis ...
, won one of the most comprehensive state-level victories since Federation, taking 69 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The new Government embarked on a modest reform program, franchising the operation of
Sydney Ferries
Sydney Ferries is the public transport ferry network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Services operate on Sydney Harbour and the connecting Parramatta River. The network is controlled by the New South Wales Government's transport a ...
, leasing three port corporations, establishing 'one-stop shop' government service centres, abolishing car registration stickers, decentralising government offices, and reducing back-office bureaucracy by merging or abolishing a number of state agencies. At the same time, the Government embarked on a major infrastructure program, including the
North West Rail Link
Sydney Metro Northwest was a rapid transit project involving the construction of a rail line through the north-western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The line included the conversion of the existing Epping to Chatswood Rail Li ...
,
CBD and South East Light Rail
The CBD and South East Light Rail is a light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Construction commenced in October 2015, with services between Circular Quay and Randwick commencing on 14 December 2019 as the L2 Randwick Line, and ...
,
Newcastle Light Rail
The Newcastle Light Rail is a light rail system in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, running from Newcastle Interchange through the central business district to Pacific Park. Major construction commenced in September 2017 and the line was ...
,
Northern Sydney Freight Corridor
The Northern Sydney Freight Corridor (NSFC) was a project to improve access between Sydney and Newcastle for freight trains. Frequent passenger services operate on the Main Northern line between Strathfield and Broadmeadow. These passenger serv ...
,
WestConnex
WestConnex is a predominantly underground motorway scheme in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. As of 2022, it is partially completed and partially still under construction. A joint project of the New South Wales and Australian governments, t ...
,
NorthConnex
NorthConnex is a twin-tube motorway tunnel in northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, opened on 31 October 2020. It acts as a tunnel bypass of the congested Pennant Hills Road, connecting the M1 Pacific Motorway to the M2 Hills Motorway. ...
, upgrades to the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and
Princes
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in some Euro ...
highways, and preparations for a new
Western Sydney Airport
Western Sydney International Nancy-Bird Walton Airport, also known as Western Sydney Airport or Badgerys Creek Airport, is a new international airport currently under construction within the suburb of Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, Australia. ...
.
In 2013, the Nationals
won a by-election in
Northern Tablelands
The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...
after independent MP
Richard Torbay
George Richard Torbay (born 26 March 1961), an Australian politician, was an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands from 1999 to 2013. Torbay was the 30th Speaker of the New South Wales L ...
resigned over corruption allegations.
The Government party room shrinks
The win in Northern Tablelands represented the high point for the Government party room. At the
next by-election, caused when Sports Minister and member for
Miranda Graham Annesley
Graham Annesley (born 26 May 1957) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Miranda for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2013. From 3 April 2011 to 28 August 2013 he was the Min ...
resigned to take a job in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, the Liberals suffered the largest two-party-preferred swing in state history—26 points—and former MP
Barry Collier reclaimed the seat for Labor.
Things got worse for the Government when news broke of
Operation Spicer, an
Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation into allegedly illegal campaign donations to a number of Liberal MPs from the Hunter and Central Coast. Throughout 2014, a succession of implicated MPs quit the parliamentary Liberal party to sit as independents:
Craig Baumann
Craig Asbjorn Baumann (born 30 April 1953) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 to 2015, representing the electorate of Port Stephens. He was elected as a member of the Liberal Par ...
(
Port Stephens),
Andrew Cornwell
Andrew Stuart Cornwell (born 29 December 1969) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from the 2011 election until 2014, representing the electorate of Charlestown. He was elected as a Li ...
(
Charlestown),
Garry Edwards
Garry Keith Edwards (born 6 September 1950) is a former Australian politician who represented the electoral district of Swansea in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2015.
Early career and background
A ...
(
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
),
Marie Ficarra
Marie Ann Ficarra (born 25 March 1954) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2007 to 2015. She was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for George ...
(Legislative Council),
Mike Gallacher
Michael Joseph Gallacher (born 27 September 1961 in Paisley, Scotland), an Australian politician, was the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council in the O'Farrell government and Baird governmen ...
(Legislative Council),
Chris Hartcher
Christopher "Chris" Peter Hartcher (born 21 December 1946) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 2015, representing the electorates of Gosford (1988–2007) and Terrigal (2007–2 ...
(
Terrigal
Terrigal is a coastal town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the local government area.
History
Terrigal was first settled in 1826 by European Settler John Gray, ...
),
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 ...
(
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 ...
),
Chris Spence (
The Entrance) and
Darren Webber
Darren James Webber (born 29 June 1981), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Wyong on the Central Coast for the Liberal Party from the 2011 New South Wales state election until 19 Fe ...
(
Wyong
Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area.
Hist ...
).
Bart Bassett
Bart Edward Bassett (born 4 March 1961) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2015, representing the electorate of Londonderry. He was elected as a member of the Liberal Party, bu ...
, MP for the Western Sydney seat of
Londonderry, was also implicated and quit the parliamentary party. Cornwell and Owen later resigned from parliament following damning evidence presented at the Spicer public hearing, triggering by-elections in
Charlestown and
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 what the Liberals described as an "act of atonement" for Owen and Cornwell's actions, the party did not contest either by-election, and Labor easily reclaimed both seats. All but Edwards indicated their intention not to stand for re-election in 2015 (Gallacher's Legislative Council term does not expire until 2019); Edwards would be heavily defeated by Labor's Catley.
Baird replaces O'Farrell
However, Spicer's biggest scalp was that of Premier O'Farrell, who found he'd inadvertently misled the Commission over a bottle of wine he'd received as a gift from lobbyist Nick Di Girolamo. O'Farrell called a press conference and announced his resignation on 17 April 2014. The frontrunners to replace him were Treasurer Mike Baird and Transport Minister
Gladys Berejiklian
Gladys Berejiklian (born 22 September 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021.
Berejiklian became a member ...
, though in the event Baird stood unopposed, with Berejiklian elected unopposed as his deputy. A Cabinet reshuffle followed, with ministers
Robyn Parker
Robyn Mary Parker (born 3 August 1958), is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Maitland, Maitland for the Liberal Party from 2011 New South Wales state ...
,
Don Page,
Greg Smith and
George Souris
George Souris (born 12 July 1949) is an Australian politician and former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Upper Hunter for the Nationals from 1988 to 2015. Souris is a former leader of the National Party in NS ...
dumped to make way for
Troy Grant
Troy Wayne Grant (born 11 February 1970) is an Australian politician and former police officer. Grant has been the Inspector-General of Water Compliance (IGWC) since August 2021, and is Australia’s first in this position. Previously, he was t ...
,
Jai Rowell
Jai Travers Rowell (born 2 January 1977), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Wollondilly, Wollondilly for the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales ...
,
Rob Stokes
Robert Gordon Stokes (born 17 January 1975) is an Australian politician. Stokes is the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Cities, and the Minister for Active Transport in the Perrottet ministry since 21 December 20 ...
and
Paul Toole
Paul Lawrence Toole (born 2 August 1970), an Australian politician, is the Deputy Premier and leader of the New South Wales Nationals since October 2021. Toole is the Minister for Regional New South Wales in the second Berejiklian and Perrot ...
. The Nationals followed suit six months later, with leader and Deputy Premier
Andrew Stoner
Andrew John Stoner (born 14 January 1960), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Oxley from 1999 state election to 2015.
Stoner was the Leader of the New South Wales National Pa ...
stepping down due to undisclosed family issues on 15 October. Stoner was quickly removed from Cabinet, replaced by
John Barilaro
Giovanni Domenic "John" Barilaro (born 14 November 1971) is a former Australian politician who served as the 18th deputy premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the National Party from 2016 to 2021. He wa ...
; Grant succeeded him as Nationals leader and Deputy Premier.
Soon after taking office, Baird and Grant put a massive infrastructure program, funded by partial privatisation of the state's electricity networks, at the heart of the Government's re-election campaign.
Lead-up to the election
Labor soon faced leadership problems of its own. In the aftermath of a
hostage drama at a café in central Sydney, it emerged that Opposition Leader
John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to:
Politicians United Kingdom politicians
* J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918
*John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...
had, in his capacity as member for
Blacktown
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...
, made a representation on behalf of the gunman,
Man Haron Monis
Man Haron Monis (born Mohammed Hassan Manteghi Borujerdi; 19 May 1964 – 16 December 2014) was an Iranian-born refugee and Australian citizen who took hostages in a siege at the Lindt Chocolate Café at Martin Place, Sydney on 15 Decem ...
, three years earlier. Facing threats of being voted out, Robertson stepped down on 23 December. Though frontbenchers
Michael Daley
Michael John Daley (born 1 November 1965) is an Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from November 2018 to March 2019. He is currently a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assemb ...
and
Steve Whan
Steven James Robert Whan (born 11 February 1964) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2011 to 2015. Whan represented the electoral district of Monaro in the New South Wales Legislati ...
considered running, both men withdrew in favour of the party's Planning spokesman and leader in the Legislative Council,
Luke Foley
Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 July 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...
.
Working in the Government's favour was a highly popular leader and a fully funded plan to build additional roads and rail lines in Sydney, easing congestion. However, the Government now faced significant headwinds on its way to the March election. The Opposition had a new leader relatively untainted by the corruption that had marred the previous Labor government. The federal Liberal/National government in Canberra was unpopular following a poorly received austerity budget. Their policy platform was a form of privatisation, something with limited electoral appeal, that sparked a well-resourced union scare campaign. Lingering anger over revelations from Operation Spicer remained in many seats. In regional areas, the Nationals had long faced a scare campaign on coal-seam gas. Earlier, first-term conservative premiers had been toppled in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, then
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
. Despite the Government's continuing lead in opinion polls, the
ABC's 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 ...
tipped a much closer contest than the numbers suggested, "with the government at risk of losing its majority."
Redistribution
The 2007 and 2011 elections were conducted using boundaries set in 2004. The state constitution requires the Electoral Commission to review electoral district boundaries after every two elections, to ensure that the number of voters in each district is within 10 per cent of the "quota" – the number of voters divided by the number of Legislative Assembly seats. In 2012, the Commission began work on determining new boundaries for the 2015 election, a process commonly known as "redistribution". The quota was 52,770, meaning that each district needed to have between 47,000 and 58,000 enrolled electors.
The Nationals-held district of
Murrumbidgee was abolished, and the Nationals-held districts of
Burrinjuck and
Murray-Darling renamed
Cootamundra
Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...
and
Murray
Murray may refer to:
Businesses
* Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles
* Murrays, an Australian bus company
* Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust
* D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...
respectively. Burrinjuck MP
Katrina Hodgkinson
Katrina Ann Hodgkinson (born 10 March 1966) is a former Federal Vice President of the National Party of Australia and a former Australian Member of Parliament. She was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Cootamund ...
initially announced her intention to run for
Goulburn
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...
, taking on her cabinet colleague, Liberal
Pru Goward
Prudence Jane "Pru" Goward (born 2 September 1952) is a former Australian politician and was a Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 to 2019, representing the seat of Goulburn.
She was the New South Wales Minis ...
, on the grounds that much of the area she now represented would be in the Goulburn district come 2015. O'Farrell reportedly persuaded Hodgkinson to back down, to avoid splitting the conservative vote and potentially losing Goulburn to Labor. Hodgkinson went on to contest Cootamundra, while Murrumbidgee MP
Adrian Piccoli
Adrian Piccoli (born 24 March 1970) is a former Australian politician who represented the electoral district of Murray in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2015 to 2017, and the district of Murrumbidgee from 1999 to 2015. He was the ...
contested Murray and Murray-Darling MP
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
joined the party's upper house ticket.
In Sydney, replaced Liberal-held
Menai was renamed
Holsworthy
Holsworthy is a market town and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the parish, which includes the village of Brandis Cor ...
, Liberal-held
Smithfield was renamed
Prospect
Prospect may refer to:
General
* Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer
* Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team
* Prospect (mining ...
, Labor-held
Toongabbie
Toongabbie is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. One of the oldest suburbs in Sydney, Toongabbie is located approximately 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater We ...
was renamed
Seven Hills, and Labor-held
Marrickville
Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...
was renamed
Summer Hill. A new inner-city district,
Newtown, was also created. Based on 2011 voting patterns, the ABC calculated that Seven Hills and
Macquarie Fields
Macquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and ...
were notionally Liberal seats, while Newtown was notionally Greens-held.
The new boundaries were gazetted on 18 September 2013, with effect from the 2015 election. The ABC calculated that in 2011 the new boundaries would have increased Liberal representation from 51 to 53, reduced Nationals representation from 18 to 17, increased Greens representation from one to two, and reduced Labor representation from 20 to 18.
Candidates
''For a full list of candidates, see
Candidates of the 2015 New South Wales state election
This article provides details on candidates for the 2015 New South Wales state election, held on 28 March 2015.
Retiring members
Labor
*Richard Amery MLA (Mount Druitt) — announced 11 August 2014
*Cherie Burton MLA (Kogarah) — announced 6 No ...
Mike Baird
Mike Baird MP (born 1 April 1968) was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party from April 2014 until January 2017. He represented the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Manly for the Liberal Party of Australia from 2007 until 2017. Before becoming Premier, he was the Treasurer of New South Wales in the O'Farrell government between 2011 and 2014. Baird has completed a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) at the University of Sydney and previously worked as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank, NAB and HSBC. Baird is married to Kerryn and they have three children.
Luke Foley
![Luke Foley - June 2014-crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Luke_Foley_-_June_2014-crop.jpg)
Luke Foley took over as Labor leader from Robertson following the latter's resignation in December 2014. Foley had initially faced two challengers for the job – Michael Daley and Steve Whan – though both men ultimately withdrew from the race. As a member of the Legislative Council, Foley was required by convention to seek a seat in the Legislative Assembly, and so nominated for the inner western Sydney seat of Auburn. Both the incumbent MP, Barbara Perry, and her preselection challenger,
Hicham Zraika, withdrew, allowing Foley to take the nomination unopposed.
During the campaign, Foley was unable to match his opponent's appeal, consistently recording net satisfaction ratings under 10 and "better premier" ratings around half that of Baird's (
see below).
Hailing from the party's
Socialist Left faction, Foley is a former
National Union of Students president,
Australian Services Union
The Australian Services Union (registered as the Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union) is a trade union representing workers in a variety of industries.
The ASU is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade ...
state secretary, Labor assistant state secretary and parliamentary staffer. In the Legislative Council, Foley served as both Opposition Leader in that House and the party's shadow minister for Planning. Foley is married to Edel McKenna and they have three children.
Legislative Assembly
Before the election, the governing Liberal and National parties held 42 and 19 seats, respectively. The main opposition Labor party held 23. The
crossbench
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
was composed of nine MPs: the Greens'
Jamie Parker
Jamie Parker (born 14 August 1979) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Harry Potter in the original cast for the West End play ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award f ...
; independents
Alex Greenwich
Alexander Hart Greenwich (born 28 November 1980) is the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Sydney since the 2012 Sydney by-election. He ran as an independent and was backed by his predecessor, independ ...
and
Greg Piper
Gregory Michael Piper (born 31 August 1957 in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales), an Australian politician, is the independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Lake Macquarie since 2007. Piper also served as Mayor o ...
; and six MPs elected as Liberals in 2011 but who resigned from the parliamentary party following ICAC's
Operation Spicer.
In 2015, the Liberals contested 74 seats and the Nationals 19. (The 2013 redistribution eliminated one Nationals seat in south-western NSW. The only Labor-held seat in which the Nationals stood a candidate was
Cessnock.) Labor contested all 93 seats. Of the crossbenchers, only Parker, Greenwich and Piper recontested, along with former Liberal
Garry Edwards
Garry Keith Edwards (born 6 September 1950) is a former Australian politician who represented the electoral district of Swansea in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2015.
Early career and background
A ...
.
Legislative Council
All six parties represented before the election in the Legislative Council nominated candidates.
As in previous elections, the governing
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 ...
and
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
parties fielded a joint ticket. Between them, the parties won eight Council seats in 2007, among them the seats of ministers
John Ajaka
John George Ajaka (born 13 January 1956), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2007 to 2021, representing the Liberal Party and he is the first Liberal Party Lebanese Australian member of an Au ...
and
Matthew Mason-Cox
Matthew Ryan Mason-Cox is an Australian politician serving as President of the New South Wales Legislative Council, President of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 4 May 2021. He is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council ...
. Eleven Liberal and Nationals members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) were elected in 2011 and did not face election in 2015. The 2015 ticket was headed by Ajaka for the Liberals and, facing his first electoral test, the former Nationals State Director
Ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading intell ...
. The Liberals and Nationals directed their Legislative Council preferences, indeed "swap preferences", to the Christian Democrats.
The
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 ...
ticket was branded as "Labor / Country Labor". Labor won nine Council seats in 2007, among them the seat occupied by Foley. (Foley was appointed to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation in 2010 of disgraced former minister
Ian Macdonald
Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both ''Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from a ...
.) Five Labor MLCs were elected in 2011 and did not face election in 2015. The 2015 Labor ticket was headed by former union official
Sophie Cotsis
Sophie Cotsis (born 19 November 1973) is an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 7 September 2010 to 16 September 2016, when she resigned in order to contest a by-election for the Legisl ...
. Labor directed its Legislative Council preferences to the Greens.
The
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 ...
won two seats in 2007 – by
Lee Rhiannon
Lee Rhiannon (formerly O'Gorman, ''née'' Brown; born 30 May 1951) is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. She was elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Austr ...
(now a federal NSW senator) and
John Kaye. Rhiannon was later replaced by
Cate Faehrmann
Cate Faehrmann (born 17 March 1970) is an Australian politician and environmental activist.
Faehrmann was a Greens member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2011 to 2013. She resigned from the Legislative Council in June 2013 to st ...
, who in turn was replaced by
Mehreen Faruqi
Mehreen Saeed Faruqi (born 8 July 1963) is an Australian politician and former engineer who has been a Senator for New South Wales since 15 August 2018, representing the Greens. She was chosen to fill a casual vacancy caused by the resignation ...
. Kaye and Faruqi recontested in 2015. Three Greens MLCs were elected in 2011 and did not face election in 2015. The Greens directed their Legislative Council preferences to what they considered as 'progressive' micro parties, followed by Labor.
The
Christian Democratic Party
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
(CDP) had two seats, of which one faced election. Party leader
Fred Nile
Frederick John Nile (born 15 September 1934) is an Australian politician and ordained Christian minister. Nile has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 1981, except for a period in 2004. Nile was re-elected at the Marc ...
headed the 2015 ticket. The CDP directed their Legislative Council preferences to, indeed "swap preferences with", the Liberals and Nationals.
The
Shooters and Fishers Party
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is an Australian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural and regional Australia, protecting the right to farm, enhancing commercial and recreational fishi ...
(SFP) had two seats, of which one faced election. Incumbent
Robert Borsak
Robert Borsak (born 14 August 1953) is the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF). He represents the party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was chosen by the Shooters and Fishers Party to fill the New South Wa ...
headed the 2015 ticket.
Two MLCs elected as Liberals, former Police Minister
Mike Gallacher
Michael Joseph Gallacher (born 27 September 1961 in Paisley, Scotland), an Australian politician, was the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council in the O'Farrell government and Baird governmen ...
and former
Hurstville
Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Riv ...
mayor
Marie Ficarra
Marie Ann Ficarra (born 25 March 1954) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2007 to 2015. She was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for George ...
, had sat as independents following Operation Spicer. Ficarra, whose term expired in 2015, did not recontest. Gallacher, who was re-elected in 2011, remained an MLC.
A further 11 groups registered party names and fielded candidates:
Eight groups nominated without a registered party name. Seventeen candidates nominated without groups.
Retiring members
![Premier Barry O'Farrell - Flickr - Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Premier_Barry_O%27Farrell_-_Flickr_-_Eva_Rinaldi_Celebrity_and_Live_Music_Photographer.jpg)
Former Premier O'Farrell (Liberal,
Ku-ring-gai
Kuringgai (also spelled Ku-ring-gai, Kuring-gai, Guringai, Kuriggai) (,) is an ethnonym referring to (a) an hypothesis regarding an aggregation of Indigenous Australian peoples occupying the territory between the southern borders of the Gamilar ...
) did not re-contest his seat, along with dumped former ministers
Greg Smith (Liberal,
Epping Epping may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Epping railway station, Sydney
* Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
* Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...
),
Don Page (Nationals,
Ballina),
Robyn Parker
Robyn Mary Parker (born 3 August 1958), is a former Australian politician, and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Maitland, Maitland for the Liberal Party from 2011 New South Wales state ...
(Liberal,
Maitland
Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
),
George Souris
George Souris (born 12 July 1949) is an Australian politician and former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Upper Hunter for the Nationals from 1988 to 2015. Souris is a former leader of the National Party in NS ...
(Nationals,
Upper Hunter
The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires.
The Mayor of the Upper Hunter Shir ...
)
and
Andrew Stoner
Andrew John Stoner (born 14 January 1960), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Oxley from 1999 state election to 2015.
Stoner was the Leader of the New South Wales National Pa ...
(Nationals,
Oxley Oxley may refer to:
Places
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
* Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia
Queensland
*Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia
**Oxley railway station, Brisbane ...
). Long-serving MLCs
Charlie Lynn
Charlie John Stuart Lynn (born 14 January 1945, in Orbost, Victoria) is an Australian former politician who served as a Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division), Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council betw ...
(Liberal) and
Jenny Gardiner
Jennifer Ann Gardiner (born 16 October 1950) is an Australian politician and former Nationals member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1991 to 2015.
Early years
Gardiner was born in Penola, South Australia. She attended primar ...
(Nationals)
also announced they would not be running again. Lynn, then aged 70, planned to run for the state presidency of the
Returned and Services League
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
Mission
The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...
.
All but two of the former Liberal MPs implicated by Operation Spicer announced they would not re-contest: Bassett (
Londonderry), Baumann (
Port Stephens), Hartcher (
Terrigal
Terrigal is a coastal town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the local government area.
History
Terrigal was first settled in 1826 by European Settler John Gray, ...
), Spence (
The Entrance), Webber (
Wyong
Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area.
Hist ...
) and Ficarra (Legislative Council).
On the Labor side,
Barbara Perry, who had been facing a preselection challenge for her seat of
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
, withdrew to allow Foley to win Labor's nomination unopposed.
Former Premier
Nathan Rees
Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...
(
Toongabbie
Toongabbie is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. One of the oldest suburbs in Sydney, Toongabbie is located approximately 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater We ...
),
former deputy Premier
Carmel Tebbutt
Carmel Mary Tebbutt (born 22 January 1964) is an Australian former politician. She was the Labor Party Member for the former seat of Marrickville in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly until the 2015 election and was Deputy Premier of New ...
(
Marrickville
Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...
)
and
Father of the House
Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...
Richard Amery
Richard Sanderson Amery (born 31 March 1951) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1983 to 2015, representing the electorates of Riverstone (1983-1991) and Mount Druit ...
(
Mount Druitt
Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney reg ...
)
also announced their intention to quit politics, along with
Cherie Burton
Cherie Ann Burton (born 13 November 1968) is a former Australian politician, who was a Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Electoral district of Kogarah, Kogarah from 1999 ...
(
Kogarah
Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area.
Loca ...
),
Barry Collier (
Miranda),
Amanda Fazio
Amanda Ruth Fazio (born 23 August 1954) is an Australian politician; she was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council representing the Labor Party from 2000 to 2015. Fazio was President of the Legislative Council from 24 November 2 ...
(after losing preselection for her Legislative Council seat),
Robert Furolo
Robert Anthony Furolo (born 27 July 1969) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2015, representing the electorate of Lakemba.
Furolo was born in Sydney, and grew up i ...
(
Lakemba),
and
Andrew McDonald (
Macquarie Fields
Macquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and ...
).
Campaign
The Liberal campaign slogans were "Back Baird" and "Keep NSW Working". Labor ran on "A New Approach for NSW".
Poles and wires
Baird sought a mandate to lease 49% of the government's electricity distributors, known locally as the "poles and wires", for 99 years and invest the proceeds in new road, public transport, water, health and education infrastructure. With opposition to the lease forming the centrepiece of Labor's campaign, the election was widely viewed as a
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
on the proposal.
The government's plan involved the lease of 100% of high-voltage distributor
TransGrid
Transgrid is the manager and operator of the high voltage electricity transmission network in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and is part of the National Electricity Market (NEM). The company's offices are located ...
and majority stakes in
Ausgrid
Ausgrid is an electricity distribution company which owns, maintains and operates the electrical networks supplying 1.8 million customers servicing more than 4 million people in Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales, A ...
and
Endeavour Energy
Endeavour Energy is the operator of the electrical distribution network for Greater Western Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands and the Illawarra region of NSW, Australia.
Background
It was formed from the previously state-owne ...
, which together cover local distribution in metropolitan NSW. Country-based
Essential Energy
Essential Energy is a state-owned electricity infrastructure company which owns, maintains and operates the electrical distribution networks for much of New South Wales, covering 95 percent of the state geography. It also owns the reticulated w ...
was not part of the proposal. The proceeds, estimated at $20 billion, were to be spent on major projects including an extension of the under-construction
North West Rail Link
Sydney Metro Northwest was a rapid transit project involving the construction of a rail line through the north-western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The line included the conversion of the existing Epping to Chatswood Rail Li ...
to the city centre and on to
Bankstown
Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...
. The plan enjoyed support, from business groups, such as the Energy Users' Association, the
Business Council
The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.[Australian Industry Group
The Australian Industry Group, also called Ai Group, is an employers' organisation, whose members employ over 750,000 people throughout Australia. The organisation covers a wide range of industries including manufacturing, engineering, constructi ...](_blank)
; and by transport lobby groups
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) is an industry body representing Australia’s infrastructure industry.
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia was launched in 2005 by then NSW Premier Morris Iemma, and in Victoria by then Treasurer Joh ...
and the
Tourism and Transport Forum. In addition, a number of senior Labor figures came out in support, including former Prime Minister
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...
, former NSW Treasurer
Michael Costa, and former federal Resources Minister
Martin Ferguson. Following the election, former Labor Premiers
Bob Carr
Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...
and
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
and former Labor Treasurer
Michael Egan added their voices in support. Full privatisation of poles and wires also had the support of Australia's
Productivity Commission
The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation and a range of other social and environmental issues.
The Productivity Commission was created as an independent ...
.
The plan was opposed by Labor, the Greens, the Shooters & Fishers and a number of unions. The plan also polled poorly and attracted little support on the ABC's ''Vote Compass'' site.
Labor's campaign in opposition, supported by the union-funded television, outdoor and direct-mail advertising, rested on three arguments:
* that retail prices would rise
* that under a partial lease arrangement, the assets would be "gone for good"
* that the potential involvement of Chinese investors posed a risk to national security.
The party's claims on price increases were debunked by separate reports from
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
,
Deloitte Access Economics and the
Grattan Institute
Grattan Institute is an Australian public policy think tank, established in 2008. The Melbourne-based institute is non-aligned, defining itself as contributing "to public policy in Australia as a liberal democracy in a globalised economy." It is ...
. Dr
Tom Parry, formerly the head of NSW's
Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, told ''The Australian'' "all the evidence" was that privatised networks "have much better cost controls ... I don't see why there's any basis to suggest that network charges will go up as a result of privatisation."
Some of the most savage criticism came from within the Labor party itself. Keating dismissed the campaign as the work of "some obscurantists". Ferguson went further, saying he was "ashamed of the Party" and accusing Foley and the unions of "deliberately misleading the public, creating unnecessary fear and trying to scare people." Costa, whose own privatisation plan had been rejected by Labor's state conference, slammed "a small, privileged special interest group, the electricity unions" for repeating "lie after desperate lie" on the government's plan. Egan said simply "I would've thought the Labor Party had grown up on that issue."
Foley's suggestion that Chinese investment represented a national security risk was dismissed as racist "
dog-whistle politics
In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs bu ...
" by treasurer
Andrew Constance
Andrew James Constance (born 31 October 1973) is a former Australian politician and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Bega for the Liberal Party between 2003 and December 2021.
Constance served as the New S ...
and Egan. Federal
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane
Thinethavone "Tim" Soutphommasane ( ; born 1982) is an Australian academic, social commentator and former public servant. He was Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission from 2013 to 2018. He has pre ...
, himself a former Labor staffer, implored Labor and the unions on Twitter not to "licence xenophobia".
Coal-seam gas
Coal-seam gas (CSG) extraction became a major issue, particularly on the fringes of the metropolitan area and in the
Northern Rivers
Northern Rivers is the most north-easterly region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers. ...
region. When it left office, Labor had awarded CSG licences covering about 60 per cent of the state's land area. The Liberals and Nationals also supported CSG as a means to create regional jobs and prevent an expected increase in domestic natural gas prices. Responding to what was described as "a climate of community
unease" about land access and the possibility of environmental damage, the Government asked the state's independent Chief Scientist, Professor
Mary O'Kane
Mary Josephine O'Kane, AC (born 1954) an Australian scientist and engineer, is the Chair of the Independent Planning Commission of New South Wales (formerly the NSW Planning Assessment Commission). She is also a company director and Executive ...
, to review the CSG industry in NSW. O'Kane concluded that "the technical challenges and risks posed by the CSG industry can in general be managed", allowing extraction to continue. Nonetheless, the Government had gas firms hand back many of the most contentious outstanding undeveloped licences in Sydney, the Central Coast and the Northern Rivers.
Labor promised to go further, simply banning CSG extraction statewide, an approach which would have led to higher natural gas prices, triggered compensation payments to gas investors and, according to the industry, revealed "a stubborn refusal to face the facts" in the light of the O'Kane report. The Greens, who had always opposed CSG, went on to beat Labor into second place on primary votes in two Nationals-held Northern Rivers seats,
Ballina and
Lismore.
Newcastle revitalisation
In December 2013, the government had suspended services on the surface-level train line that separates the
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 ...
city centre from the
Hunter River Hunter River may refer to:
*Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia
*Hunter River (Western Australia)
*Hunter River, New Zealand
*Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada
**Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada
...
waterfront. The line had long been considered an impediment to the city's development, and the government's plan was to close the line and build a light rail system in its place. Labor, which had advocated for such a plan in government, now led opposition to it.
Health and education
Labor criticised alleged cuts to health and education.
Character and experience
Labor attacked Baird for his former career in banking and his friendship with prime minister
Tony Abbott
Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Abbott was born in Londo ...
, whose electorate of
Warringah Warringah is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to:
*Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922
*Electoral ...
overlaps Baird's seat of
Manly. At the time of the election, Abbott was polling poorly.
In an echo of the Liberals'
successful 2004 campaign against then Opposition Leader
Mark Latham
Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...
, the Government branded Foley an '
L-plate
An L-plate is a square plate bearing a sans-serif letter L, for ''learner'', which must be affixed to the front and/or back of a vehicle in many countries if its driver is a learner under instruction, or a motorcycle rider with provisional entit ...
' leader on the basis of his lack of ministerial and leadership experience.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-state-election-2015/baird-bus-joke-puts-luke-foley-in-mountain-of-trouble/story-fnrskx7r-1227278799923 ]
Incidents
Baird's
campaign bus was attacked by
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
vandals during an overnight stop in Katoomba. Foley later joked on radio: “Fancy leaving your bus out overnight in Katoomba, unguarded. You’re asking for trouble. I’m surprised there are still wheels." Foley's comments drew criticism from both
Blue Mountains MP
Roza Sage and the local Chamber of Commerce.
An error on the Electoral Commission's "iVote" electronic pre-poll voting system reportedly omitted the Animal Justice Party from the "above the line" section of the Legislative Council ballot for 36 hours, during which time 19,000 votes were cast. Animal Justice, a
micro-party that received less than two per cent of the vote, is nonetheless considered a contender for the 21st and final Council seat, thanks to a preference deal with the Greens. The party's lead candidate, Mark Pearson, said he was considering legal action if he did not gain a seat.
On 26 March, a 20-year-old Liberal campaign volunteer in
Cabramatta
Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield.
Cabramatta ...
was allegedly struck by a Labor volunteer during an altercation outside a pre-poll centre. A video of the incident was captured by the alleged victim on her mobile phone. Police were reportedly investigating the incident.
East Hills Labor candidate
Cameron Murphy alleged he had been the victim of a dirty tricks campaign, involving leaflets and stickers branding the
civil libertarian
Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporation, social nor ...
as a "
paedophile
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
lover" because of his work as president of the
NSW Council for Civil Liberties
Founded in 1963, the charter of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties is to protect the rights and liberties of Australian citizens (as long as they do not infringe on the rights and freedoms of others) and to oppose the abusive or excessive exerci ...
. East Hills, held by Labor continuously from 1953 to 2011, was won in 2011 by Liberal
Glenn Brookes
Glenn Edward Brookes (born 13 August 1959) is an Australian politician who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing East Hills from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Liberal Party, he resigned to become an independen ...
with a margin of 0.2 points (adjusting for boundary changes in 2013). Murphy told the press he had lodged a complaint with the Electoral Commission and was seeking legal advice.
The newly registered No Land Tax Party fielded candidates in all 93 electoral districts, thus maximising their chances of receiving public funding. Party leader Peter Jones conceded he had not met half of the candidates, many of whom did not live in the districts they hoped to represent. In
Bega, held by Treasurer
Andrew Constance
Andrew James Constance (born 31 October 1973) is a former Australian politician and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Bega for the Liberal Party between 2003 and December 2021.
Constance served as the New S ...
for the Liberals, reports surfaced during the campaign that No Land Tax candidate Clyde Archard had in fact died in
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
as a
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
in 1945. He nonetheless received 2.3 per cent of the vote.
Newspaper endorsements
In the final week of the campaign, the Liberals and Nationals received the endorsement of the main daily and Sunday newspapers in the state: ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'', ''
The Australian Financial Review
''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
'', ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', ''
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
'', ''
The Sun-Herald
''The Sun-Herald'' is an Australian newspaper published in tabloid or compact format on Sundays in Sydney by Nine Publishing. It is the Sunday counterpart of ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. In the 6 months to September 2005, ''The Sun-Herald' ...
'' and ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
''.
Election night
Election night coverage was provided by the
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 ...
,
Seven
7 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
7 or seven may also refer to:
* AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era
* 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era
* The month of
July
Music Artists
* Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...
,
Nine
9 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
9 or nine may also refer to:
Dates
* AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era
* 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era
* 9, numerical symbol for the month of September
Places
* Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...
and
Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...
. Collectively, the three free-to-air programs had 371,000 viewers in the Sydney market.
Labor supporters gathered at Dooley's Catholic Club in
Lidcombe
Lidcombe is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lidcombe is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland Council, with a small industrial part in the north ...
. Foley conceded defeat at 9.20 pm, saying "a majority of voters have decided that now is too soon for Labor to return to government."
["http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-28/live3a-2015-nsw-election-night/6354264"] Liberal supporters gathered at Sydney's
Sofitel Sydney Wentworth
The Sofitel Sydney Wentworth (also referred to as the Wentworth Hotel) is a heritage-listed luxury five-star hotel located at 61-101 Phillip Street in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The Wentworth Hotel on this ...
, where Baird claimed victory at 9.45 pm. "The reason I love this state is because of its people," Baird told the crowd, "And tonight they have chosen hope over fear."
Aftermath
![Martin Ferguson - World Economic Forum on East Asia 2012 crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Martin_Ferguson_-_World_Economic_Forum_on_East_Asia_2012_crop.jpg)
On 1 April Baird announced a
reshuffle of the ministry. His deputy, Berejiklian, was promoted to Treasurer, while Constance moved to Transport. Nationals leader Grant took on Justice and Police.
Rob Stokes
Robert Gordon Stokes (born 17 January 1975) is an Australian politician. Stokes is the New South Wales Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Cities, and the Minister for Active Transport in the Perrottet ministry since 21 December 20 ...
was promoted from Environment to Planning;
Gabrielle Upton
Gabrielle Cecelia Upton (born 16 December 1964), an Australian politician, is the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Vaucluse for the Liberal Party since 2011.
Upton is currently serving as the Parlia ...
from Community Services to Attorney-General. Goward was demoted from Planning to Mental Health. Ministers Hodgkinson and Mason-Cox, along with Liberal
Jai Rowell
Jai Travers Rowell (born 2 January 1977), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Electoral district of Wollondilly, Wollondilly for the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales ...
and National
Kevin Humphries
Kevin John Humphries (born 2 April 1960), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Barwon for the Nationals from 2007 to 2019. He was the Minister for Healthy Lifestyles and Mental Health ...
were dropped from the ministry in favour of Liberals
David Elliott and
Mark Speakman
Mark Raymond Speakman (born 6 November 1959) is an Australian politician. He has served as the New South Wales Attorney General since January 2017 in the second Berejiklian ministry since April 2019, and in the first arrangement of the Perrott ...
and Nationals
Niall Blair
Niall Mark Blair (born 22 May 1977) is a former Australian politician and was the former Deputy Leader of the National Party of Australia – NSW, New South Wales Nationals. Blair was a National Party of Australia – NSW, Nationals member of t ...
and
Leslie Williams.
On election night Foley told supporters he intended to stay on as party leader. Daley, his former leadership rival, ruled out a challenge, saying the party was in a "rebuilding phase".
Federal Opposition Leader
Bill Shorten
William Richard Shorten (born 12 May 1967) is an Australian politician currently serving as Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme since 2022. He previously served as leader of the opposition a ...
,
Australian Council of Trade Unions
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and eight trades and la ...
(ACTU) secretary
Dave Oliver
David Jacob Oliver (born April 7, 1951) is a former infielder and coach in Major League Baseball, and is currently a member of the scouting department for the Kansas City Royals. Primarily a second baseman as a professional player, he batted lef ...
, NSW Labor secretary Jamie Clements, Senator
Sam Dastyari
Sam Dastyari ( fa, سام دستیاری; born Sahand Dastyari, ; born 28 July 1983) is a former Australian politician, who from 2013 to 2018 represented New South Wales in the Australian Senate as a member of the Australian Labor Party. Dastyar ...
and other Labor figures called for Ferguson to be expelled from Labor for him slamming the party's stance on the privatization – something Dastyari characterised as "high treason" and a "bastard act". Ferguson, a 40-year veteran of the party, former ACTU president and former federal minister, stood by his remarks during the campaign, saying "I've done nothing but express a consistent policy position that in the end will mean lower energy prices for the traditional base that the Labor Party is supposed to represent." Labor was not united in the push to expel Ferguson, however, with former ACTU secretary
Bill Kelty
William John Kelty, AC (born 5 February 1948) is an Australian trade unionist and a well-known figure in the Australian labour movement, who served as Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) from 1983 to 2000.
Born in Brunswi ...
and former NSW Premier
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...
among those coming to his defence. Iemma described the expulsion push as "petty and vindictive", exposing the party as "intolerant and incapable of embracing divergent views."
A number of campaign workers for the No Land Tax Party came forward after the election claiming they had not been paid as promised by party leader Peter Jones. Others claimed they had signed up thinking they would be working for the Electoral Commission.
Jones later took up the iVote complaint, even though it did not affect his party, saying "The only way the election won't be overturned is if the judge is on the take or on
crystal meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...
."
Opinion polling
Several research, media and polling firms conduct opinion polls during the parliamentary term and prior to the state election in relation to voting. Most firms use the flow of preferences at the previous election to determine the two-party-preferred vote; others ask respondents to nominate preferences.
Primary vote opinion polling graph
Two-party preferred polling graph
Voting intention polling
Better Premier and leadership polling
See also
*
*
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council, 2011–2015
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council who served in the 55th Parliament were elected at the Results of the 2007 New South Wales state election (Legislative Council), 2007 and Results of the 2011 New South Wales state election (Legisl ...
References
{{Government of New South Wales
Elections in New South Wales
2015 elections in Australia
2010s in New South Wales
March 2015 events in Australia