A by-election for the

electoral district of North West Central North West Central is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia. The district is mostly based in the rural north-west of Western Australia. It is currently a marginal seat for the Nationals ...

in Western Australia took place on 17 September 2022 following the resignation of the sitting member, Nationals MP Vince Catania, on 8 August 2022. The election was won by National Party candidate Merome Beard.

Background

Vince Catania was initially elected to the

in 2008 as a Labor Party candidate, but he defected to the National Party in 2009. He had since won the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, 2017 and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

state elections as a National Party candidate. His margin at the 2021 election was only 259 votes, making it one of the closest seats in the state. In June 2022, Catania announced his intention to resign from Parliament in August 2022. At the time, he was one of four National Party members in the Legislative Assembly. As the

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 ...

only had two members in the Legislative Assembly, the National Party was the senior party in the opposition alliance. Catania tendered his resignation to the

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

on 8 August 2022. The election was scheduled to occur on 17 September 2022.

Candidates

The National Party chose Carnarvon hotel and pub owner Merome Beard as their candidate in late June. She was the only person nominated for

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

. The Liberal Party chose Will Baston as their candidate on 13 July. He is the nephew of

Barnett Barnett is both a surname and a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname Barnett is an Anglo-Saxon and Old French surname that came after the Norman Invasion.The original Anglo-Saxon spelling is baernet which means'the ...

government minister

Ken Baston Kenneth Charles Baston (born 29 June 1949) is an Australian politician who is a former Liberal Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Council representing the Mining and Pastoral Region. First elected to parliament at the 2005 stat ...

and manager of the family's

Jimba Jimba Station Jimba Jimba Station, most often referred to as Jimba Jimba, is a pastoral lease currently operating as a cattle station in Western Australia, that once operated as a sheep station. The property is situated near Gascoyne Junction, Western Austr ...

, a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stat ...

east of Carnarvon. He was the only person nominated for preselection. If he were to win the by-election, the National and Liberal parties would have three seats each, making it unclear which party would be the opposition party. The

opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

and deputy opposition leader are determined by who is the leader and deputy leader of the opposition party. The opposition party also gets additional staff and resources. There is no known precedent or tiebreaker for when multiple parties have the same number of seats. Labor was yet to decide if it will put forward a candidate as of mid-July, with there being little upside to winning considering the party already had 53 out of 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Premier

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...

was opposed to fielding a candidate, whereas cabinet minister

Alannah MacTiernan Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan (born 10 January 1953) is an Australian politician. Since 1988, she has served in politics at a federal, state, and local level, including as a minister in the Western Australian state governments of Ge ...

was strongly in favour. By 8 August, Labor had decided not to field a candidate, with McGowan saying that by-elections historically have been difficult for governments to win. Out of the 11 by-elections from 2008 to 2022, incumbent governments have not contested five. The opposition used Labor's lack of candidacy to suggest that the government doesn't care about regional areas. The Greens preselected Exmouth local Niels Glahn-Bertelsen, an educator and environmentalist. In total, there are 12 candidates, a record number for North West Central. Out of those candidates, three live in the electorate: Beard, Baston and Glahn-Bertelsen. The full list of candidates, in ballot order, is as follows:

Election results

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References

{{Reflist Western Australian state by-elections 2022 elections in Australia 2020s in Western Australia September 2022 events in Australia