Nominations for the 2016 federal election close at noon today.

On such a day, I always give a thought to some famous examples of sitting MPs who forgot to nominate in time and ended up out of parliament.

It is all but impossible for a federal candidate for a political party to fail to nominate these days. Group nominations can be submitted by the parties on behalf of individual candidates two days before the final close of nominations.

2002 – Dr. Robert Dean

Dean, then 50, was the Liberal shadow treasurer in Victoria. He had been the Liberal member for Berwick since 1992, Following a redistribution, he nominated in the seat of Gembrook and claimed an enrolment address in Berwick, a property he had previously rented.

The Victorian Electoral Commission ruled he was ineligible to stand because he had been struck off the roll when the Commission established he was not living at the Berwick address.

Dean, in fact, lived in Hawthorn, some considerable distance from Gembrook. [Read more…]