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 ...

for the seat of

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was crea ...

was held on 6 December 2014. The by-election was triggered by the death of

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

MP Bob Such on 11 October 2014. Originally elected to Fisher for the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United A ...

at the 1989 election, defeating the one-term

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

Philip Tyler Philip Brian Tyler was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Counc ...

, Such left the party in 2000. Though the Liberals were favourites to win the traditionally Liberal seat,By-election for Bob Such's seat of Fisher expected to put pressure on Weatherill Government: ABC 13 October 2014
/ref> Labor's

Nat Cook Natalie Fleur Cook is an Australian politician and anti-violence campaigner. She became an anti-violence campaigner after the death of her son in a one-punch attack in 2008. Cook is a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly, r ...

won the by-election by five votes, a 50.02 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 ...

from a 7.27-point

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing ri ...

away from the Liberals, resulting in a change from minority to

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats ...

.Fisher by-election win for Labor gives Weatherill Government majority in SA: ABC 13 December 2014
/ref>Labor claims victory in Fisher by-election: The Advertiser 13 December 2014
/ref>2014 Fisher By-election: Antony Green ABC
/ref> Despite this, the

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian politician who was the 45th Premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of ...

Labor government kept

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 ...

MPs

Geoff Brock Geoffrey Graeme Brock (born 1950) is an Australian politician. He is an Independent member in the South Australian House of Assembly, representing the seat of Stuart since the 2022 South Australian state election. Prior to this, he represent ...

and

Martin Hamilton-Smith Martin Leslie James Hamilton-Smith (born 1 December 1953) is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Waite from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. First elected as a candidate ...

in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority. ABC psephologist

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, Gre ...

described the by-election as a "very poor result for the Liberal Party in South Australia both state and federally", and that a fourth term government gaining a seat at a by-election was unprecedented in Australian history.Likely Shock Labor By-Election Win in SA: The Conversation 4 December 2014
/ref> Much of the anti-Liberal swing was attributed to the unpopularity of then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

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 ...

, and additionally, the remark from then

Defence Minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in s ...

David Johnston David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served from 2010 to 2017 as Governor General of Canada, the 28th since Canadian Confederation. He is the commissioner of the Leaders' Debates Commis ...

several days before the Fisher by-election, where he stated he wouldn't trust South Australia's

Australian Submarine Corporation ASC Pty Ltd, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation, is an Australian government business enterprise involved with Australian naval shipbuilding, headquartered in Osborne, South Australia. It is notable for the construction and mai ...

to "build a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

".Defence Minister says he 'wouldn't trust' Australian Submarine Corporation to build a canoe: ABC 25 November 2014
/ref>Is Tony Abbott the hazard for Liberals in Fisher by-election?: The Advertiser 30 November 2014
/ref>
/ref> ttp://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2014/12/08/labor-set-take-seat-fisher-sa/ Federal Libs blamed for big swing to Labor in SA: The New Daily 8 December 2014/ref>

Dates

Candidates

Two-party-preferred history

The

in Fisher while Such was an independent:

Polling

One

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

was conducted and released by the in-house polling group at '' The Advertiser'',

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

's main newspaper. Between one and two weeks prior to the by-election, 400 voters were polled in the seat. Voters were randomly selected at the sole pre-poll booth at Happy Valley Shopping Centre, as well as at

Aberfoyle Aberfoyle may refer to: *Aberfoyle, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland *Aberfoyle, Stirling, Scotland * Aberfoyle, Ontario, Canada *Aberfoyle, Texas Aberfoyle is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Hunt County, Texas, Hunt Count ...

Hub. Primary votes saw 34.25 (−0.85) percent to Liberal, 30 percent to Woodyatt, 20.5 (+2.8) percent to Labor, with a collective 15 percent for the remaining five candidates. ''The Advertiser'' claimed that a Liberal primary vote below 40 percent and the high vote for Woodyatt with Labor remaining in third place, preferences could have seen Fisher retained by an independent, Woodyatt. South Australian Newspoll at the time of the by-election recorded a statewide six percent two-party swing from Liberal to Labor.

Result

Though the Liberals were favourites to win the traditionally Liberal seat, Labor's

won the by-election by five votes with Woodyatt preferences, a 50.02 percent

from a 7.27 percent

away from the Liberals, resulting in a change from minority to

. Despite this, the

Labor government kept

MPs

and

in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority. The Liberals were successful in requesting a re-count which occurred on 15 December. Labor achieved majority government at a state level one week prior at the

2014 Victorian election The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incumb ...

. ABC psephologist

described the by-election as a "very poor result for the Liberal Party in South Australia both state and federally", and that a fourth term government gaining a seat at a by-election was unprecedented in Australian history. Much of the anti-Liberal swing was attributed to the unpopularity of then

, and additionally, the remark from then

several days before the by-election, where he stated he wouldn't trust South Australia's

to "build a

". Former Liberal leader

Iain Evans Iain Frederick Evans (born 18 April 1959) is a former Australian politician. He was leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2006 to 2007. Early life Evans attended Heathfield Primary and subsequently He ...

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality *Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta ** District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

resigned from parliament on 30 October 2014 which triggered a 2015 Davenport by-election for 31 January. Just a couple of days before the Davenport by-election, Abbott's infamous knighting of

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

occurred. Liberal

Sam Duluk Samuel John Duluk is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 2015 to 2022, representing Davenport until 2018 and then Waite. He was formerly a Liberal, but resigned to sit as an independen ...

won the seat despite a five percent two-party swing, turning the historically safe seat of Davenport in to a two-party marginal seat for the first time.Liberals withstand swing to win by-election in South Australian seat of Davenport: ABC 31 January 2015
/ref> ABC psephologist

described it as "another poor result for the South Australian Liberal Party".2015 Davenport by-election commentary: Antony Green ABC
/ref>

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

2014 Fisher By-election: Antony Green ABC2014 Fisher by-election: ECSAHow-To-Vote (HTV) cards, 2014 Fisher By-election: ECSA
2014 elections in Australia South Australian state by-elections 2010s in South Australia