December 4, 2023
9.50pm – The Australian Greens candidate, Michael Organ, has created electoral history by winning the previously Labor-held electorate of Cunningham in today’s by-election. With 78.34% of the votes counted, the two-party-preferred count has the Greens on 52.22% to the ALP’s 47.78%. It is unlikely that late votes will turn this result around.
The Aston by-election was caused by the death of the Liberal member, Peter Nugent, on April 24, 2001.
Nugent first won the seat in 1990, holding it again in the elections of 1993, 1996 and 1998.
In 1998, Nugent’s two-party-preferred margin was 4.24%.
The by-election was by Chris Pearce for the Liberal Party with 50.58% of the two-party vote. There was a two-party swing of 3.66% against the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party primary vote declined by 7.76% to 40.73%. The ALP’s primary vote also fell by 1.55% to 36.96%.
The death overnight of the Liberal member for Aston, Peter Nugent, will cause a by-election in the eastern suburban electorate in Melbourne.
The Liberal Party holds the seat by a margin of 4.24%.
Nugent had represented the seat since 1990, defeating Labor’s John Saunderson in that year and holding the seat in 1993, 1996 and 1998.
In 1998, Nugent held Aston with 54.24% of the two-party-preferred vote, compared to 45.76% for the ALP.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has held a press conference in Canberra this afternoon in which he has accepted responsibility for the Ryan by-election.
Howard says he has heard what the voters have to say, but he maintained that the result was more akin to the by-elections in Adelaide and Port Adelaide in 1988, and Oxley in 1989. In these elections, the Hawke government suffered large swings, up to 14%, losing the previously safe Adelaide electorate.
Howard argued that the swing of 10% against his government in Ryan was less than the swings against the ALP in its by-elections and denied that the result meant he could not win this year’s general election.
The Prime Minister argued that he would need to explain his government’s policies better and said that the nation could not pull back from its involvement with the rest of the world.
The Ryan by-election was held because of the resignation of the sitting member, John Moore.
The Liberal Party had held the Queensland seat since its creation in 1949.
There was a two-party-preferred swing of 9.69% in the by-election, delivering a narrow victory to the Labor candidate, Leonie Short.
| Ryan By-Election March 17, 2001 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Party | Votes | Percent | Swing |
| SHORT, Leonie |
ALP |
29,173 |
38.68 |
+8.34
|
| STAGG, Warren |
Ind |
440 |
0.58 |
+0.58
|
| HYLAND, Terry |
Ind |
822 |
1.09 |
+1.09
|
| MOORE, Jody |
Ind |
1,351 |
1.79 |
+1.79
|
| HASSALL, Andrew R |
CTA |
955 |
1.27 |
+1.27
|
| STASSE, Mike |
Greens |
4,608 |
6.11 |
+6.11
|
| TUCKER, Bob |
Liberal |
32,571 |
43.19 |
-7.21
|
| FREEMARIJUANA, Nigel David |
HMP |
1,685 |
2.23 |
+2.23
|
| DENGATE, Lyn |
Dem |
3,808 |
5.05 |
-2.93
|
| Two-Party-Preferred | ||||
| Australian Labor Party | 50.17% | +9.69% | ||
| Liberal Party | 49.83% | -9.69% | ||