Fairfax | AustralianPolitics.com

Clive Palmer Wins Fairfax By 53 Votes After Recount

October 31, 2013

Clive Palmer has won the seat of Fairfax by 53 votes, following a recount in the Queensland electorate.

Palmer

Palmer’s margin has increased by 46 votes over his 7 vote victory in the first count.

It is possible that the LNP might challenge the result on behalf of its candidate, Ted O’Brien, but this seems unlikely given the outcome of the recount.

The result in Fairfax will be officially declared tomorrow morning.

A total of 50,099 votes out of 89,173 (56.18%) were challenged and referred to the Fairfax Divisional Returning Officer during the recount. Of these, 43,942 votes were referred to the Australian Electoral Officer for a final ruling.

The final result of the election is now officially: Coalition 90 seats, ALP 55, KAP 1, PUP 1, Greens 1, Independent 2. The Abbott government’s majority is 30. After providing the Speaker, the government will have a majority of 29 on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Watch Clive Palmer’s interview with Leigh Sales on 7.30:

Statement from the Australian Electoral Commission.

Declaration of the poll in the electorate of Fairfax

The recount of the House of Representatives election in the electorate of Fairfax has been finalised, the Australian Electoral Commission announced today.

The candidate elected to represent the electorate of Fairfax is Mr Clive Palmer from the Palmer United Party with a final margin of 53 votes.

The official declaration of the result will take place at 12 noon on Friday 1 November 2013 at the Maroochydore Scrutiny Centre, in the Ex-Global Living Furniture premises, where the WIN TV Building is located, on the corner of Evans Street and Millwell Road, Maroochydore.

All candidates, the media and members of the public are welcome to attend.

Background

The recount began at 9am on Thursday 3 October with the process finalising at about 3pm on Thursday 31 October 2013.

The full recount involved a fresh look at every vote cast by voters for the electorate of Fairfax in the 2013 Federal Election, involving more than 89,000 ballot papers. View the detailed explanation of the process undertaken for the recount in the electorate of Fairfax.

Full result of the recount in the electorate of Fairfax

Palmer Wins By 7 Votes, Triggering Recount; Final Senate Results Now On Way

October 1, 2013

Clive Palmer has won the Queensland electorate of Fairfax by 7 votes, triggering an automatic recount.

Palmer The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has completed a full distribution of preferences in Fairfax. Palmer has 42,337 votes and his Liberal National (LNP) opponent, Ted O’Brien, has 42,330. An automatic recount will now take place because the margin of victory is less than 100 votes.

Palmer’s victory comes off a primary vote of 26.49%. O’Brien polled 41.37% (down 8.08%), the ALP 18.21% (down 9.10%), the Greens 8.32% (down 9.68%) and Family First 1.67% (down 3.57%). Fairfax is a traditionally Coalition electorate. It was held since 1990 by Alex Somlyay, who retired at this election.

Fairfax is the only House of Representatives seat still undecided. However, counting in the safe Labor electorate of Wills, once held by Bob Hawke, has seen the Greens overtake the Liberals for second place after preferences. The AEC has yet to publish the preference distribution figures. Wills joins Batman and Melbourne as seats in which the Greens are Labor’s main competition.

Sophie Mirabella Concedes Defeat In Indi; Palmer Falls Behind In Fairfax

September 18, 2013

Sophie Mirabella, the Liberal member for the Victorian electorate of Indi since 2001, has conceded defeat to the independent candidate, Cathy McGowan.

Mirabella’s concession came during the swearing-in of the Abbott government in which Mirabella expected to be a Cabinet minister.

The latest counting in Indi shows McGowan leading Mirabella by 395 votes, or 50.22% of the two-party-preferred vote. There are 414 declaration votes still to count.

In a gracious statement, Mirabella said she would not seek a recount. “I unreservedly accept the decision of the democratic process,” she said.

In other counting today, Clive Palmer has lost the lead in Fairfax. He now trails by 18 votes with 1,786 votes still to count. On the trend over the past week, Palmer is most likely to lose.

In the Victorian electorate of McEwen, the sitting ALP member, Rob Mitchell, is now 312 votes ahead, with 4,344 votes left to count. He is now expected to win, given the trend in recent days.

ALP Back In Lead In McEwen; McGowan And Palmer Leads Narrow

September 16, 2013

The ALP’s sitting member in the Victorian electorate of McEwen, Rob Mitchell, is back in the lead as counting continues in the rural seat north of Melbourne.

Counting over the weekend reversed Mitchell’s position. On Thursday night, the ALP was trailing by 396 votes. This narrowed to 153 on Friday night. Yesterday, the ALP was ahead by 97 votes. The Australian Electoral Commission reports that 9,197 envelopes containing absent, provisional, pre-poll and postal votes remain to be counted. Over half of these are pre-poll votes. Postal votes can still be accepted for the next couple of days.

In the Victorian country electorate of Indi, the independent candidate, Cathy McGowan, remains ahead of the sitting Liberal member, Sophie Mirabella, but the her lead is dwindling. McGowan was ahead by 1,100 votes on Thursday. This declined to 895 on Friday. She is now in front by 515 votes with 3,511 votes on hand that haven’t yet been counted.

In the rural Sunshine Coast electorate of Fairfax, Clive Palmer remains 502 votes ahead of the Liberal National Party candidate, Ted O’Brien. Like McGowan in Indi, Palmer was leading by 1,132 on Thursday. This slipped to 718 on Friday. Palmer continues to win only 37% of postal votes. There are 7,491 votes still uncounted.

Counting will continue over the coming days. The count is slowed because of the need to verify the eligibility of each elector who has cast a provisional, absentee or postal vote.

Attention will turn this week to the composition of the new Abbott government. The Prime Minister-elect is expected to announce his ministry today with a swearing-in to take place on Tuesday or Wednesday. Kevin Rudd remains caretaker prime minister until the new ministry is sworn.

Coalition Edging Towards 90 Seats As Election Counting Continues

September 12, 2013

It now appears likely that the Liberal-Nationals coalition will hold 90 seats in the House of Representatives, as Labor’s position deteriorates in several undecided electorates.

The ALP’s position in Barton, Eden-Monaro and McEwen has worsened over the past two days of counting. The ALP is behind by 643 votes in Barton, 591 votes in Eden-Monaro and 116 votes in McEwen.

However, in the Queensland seat of Capricornia, the ALP remains ahead and has stretched its lead to 268 votes. Capricornia and McEwen are now the only results in serious doubt.

In Reid, the ALP’s position has worsened since Monday and it is now 928 votes behind. It is 722 votes behind in Dobell. Both seats are now presumed to be Liberal gains.

The ALP began the election with 72 seats. It has lost 14 seats so far: Bass, Braddon, Lyons, Deakin, La Trobe, Corangamite, Hindmarsh, Petrie, Dobell, Robertson, Page, Lindsay, Banks and Reid. If it holds Capricornia but loses Barton, Eden-Monaro and McEwen it will finish up with 55 seats in the House of Representatives, or 36.66% of the total.

This would constitute the ALP’s 10th worst defeat in the 41 federal elections held since 1910. It did worse in terms of seats at the elections of 1934, 1919, 1996, 1966, 1925, 1977, 1917, 1975 and 1931.

The interest on the Coalition side now centres on Indi and Fairfax. Clive Palmer is now 1,411 votes ahead of his LNP rival in Fairfax. His lead has been quite stable since Monday and he now seems certain to win.

In Indi, the independent Cathy McGowan is 1,449 votes ahead and now seems assured of victory. Her lead was consolidated yesterday after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) corrected a clerical error which had seen 1000 votes incorrectly given to the Liberal incumbent, Sophie Mirabella.

Whilst the clerical error may seem like sloppy work on the part of the AEC, its rectification is in fact a tribute to the fail-safe measures the Commission has in place. By reconciling the number of ballot papers issued with those returned and monitoring Senate numbers, clerical errors are quickly identified.

The Coalition began with 73 seats. It has gained the 14 seats listed above, plus the formerly independent electorates of New England and Lyne. If we assume it has lost Fairfax and Indi, but won Barton, Eden-Monaro and McEwen, it will have 90 seats in the new House.

Sophie Mirabella will have the dubious distinction of being the only incumbent Coalition MP to be defeated.

Posts tagged as “Fairfax”

Clive Palmer Wins Fairfax By 53 Votes After Recount

Palmer Wins By 7 Votes, Triggering Recount; Final Senate Results Now On Way

Sophie Mirabella Concedes Defeat In Indi; Palmer Falls Behind In Fairfax

ALP Back In Lead In McEwen; McGowan And Palmer Leads Narrow

Coalition Edging Towards 90 Seats As Election Counting Continues