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Death Of John Bourchier, Former Liberal MP, Announced To House

Sep 05, 2017

The death of John Bourchier, a former member for Bendigo, was announced to the House of Representatives today.

BourchierThe Speaker, Tony Smith, announced that Bourchier died on August 31. He was 87.

Bourchier represented the Victorian division of Bendigo for the Liberal Party for five terms from 1972 until 1983. He was a backbencher throughout.

Bourchier’s arrival in the House coincided with the election of the Whitlam government. Bourchier defeated David Kennedy, who had held the seat for the ALP since 1969. A campaign against Kennedy over the abortion issue is widely regarded as contributing to his defeat. Whilst Kennedy topped the primary vote with 47.7% to Bourchier’s 26.7%, Bourchier was elected with the aid of Country Party (17.3%) and DLP (8.4%) preferences. He defeated Kennedy by 165 votes (50.2%). [Read more…]

Filed Under: House of Reps, Liberal Party, Members, Obituaries, Political History, Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

2013 Primary Vote Winners, Preference Vote Losers

Nov 01, 2013

There were 15 seats in the 2013 federal election where the primary vote leaders were defeated after the full distribution of preferences.

In 12 seats, all held by the ALP, the coalition candidate led on primary votes but the seat was won by the ALP after preferences. In 3 seats, coalition leads were overtaken by independent or third-party candidates.

The 15 seats were concentrated in Victoria (7), Queensland (5) and New South Wales (3).

Overall, 53 (35.3%) of the 150 House of Representatives electorates were decided on primary votes, whilst 97 (64.7%) required preference distribution to obtain a winner.

It is worth noting that 82 of the 97 electorates were won after preferences by the candidates who led the primary vote count. Even with preferences, a primary vote lead is difficult to overcome. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 2013 Federal Election, A.L.P., Election Statistics, Primary Votes, Two-Party-Preferred Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2013 Election Advertising Underway Already: Greg Bickley In Bendigo

Dec 06, 2012

Federal Parliament has finished for the year but television advertising for the 2013 election has begun already.

This television advertisement is from the Liberal candidate for Bendigo, Greg Bickley. It is titled “Make things better.” You can watch an earlier advertisement on his YouTube page.

Bendigo is held for the ALP by Steve Gibbons on a two-party-preferred margin of 9.53%. Gibbons secured a 3.4% swing towards him in 2010 but he is not contesting the 2013 election. The new ALP candidate is Lisa Chesters.

  • Watch Bickley’s ad (30s)
Filed Under: 2013 Federal Election, Election Advertisements, Liberal Party, Video Tagged With: ,