2022 Strathfield state by-election

2022 Strathfield state by-election
Electoral district of Strathfield in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Registered	55,220
Turnout	80.2%
	The Electoral district of Strathfield in New South Wales
MP before election; Jodi McKay; Labor	Elected MP ; Jason Yat-Sen Li; Labor

A by-election was held in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Strathfield on 12 February 2022, following the resignation of former leader of the Labor Party Jodi McKay.^[1]

The Strathfield by-election was held on the same day as by-elections for the districts of Bega, Monaro and Willoughby. The writs for election were issued on 21 January 2022. Nominations for candidates closed seven days later at noon on 27 January, with the ballot paper draw commencing in the morning of 28 January.^[2]

The NSW Electoral Commission pre-emptively sent postal ballots to all voters registered on the state electoral roll, under a regulation in a COVID amendment to the Electoral Act. Postal votes were checked against in-person voting rolls to prevent double voting. The iVote online voting system was not used at these elections after the system failed during the NSW local government elections in December 2021.^[3]

Candidates

Candidates (in ballot paper order)^[4]
Party		Candidate	Background	Notes
	Sustainable Australia	Ellie Robertson	Currently serving on three Local Council Advisory Committees, an Executive Board Member for the Australian Local Government Women’s Association, a Board Member of South West Sydney Christian Special Religious Education, and a Committee Member of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Australia^{[citation needed]}
	Labor	Jason Yat-Sen Li	Executive Chairman of Vantage Asia Holdings, corporate advisor, investor and businessman, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Sydney. Unity Party candidate for the NSW Senate in 1998, Labor candidate for Bennelong at the 2013 federal election, a Labor candidate for the NSW Senate in 2019	^[1]
	Independent	Elizabeth Farrelly	Director of The National Trust (NSW), former Associate Professor at UNSW, architect, author, activist, columnist, and former City of Sydney Councillor	^[1]
	Animal Justice	Rohan Laxmanalal	Professional background in finance, specialising in emerging renewable energy and environmental markets^{[citation needed]}
	Greens	Courtney Buckley	Photographer
	Liberal	Bridget Sakr	Co-founder of Granite Home Loans, former executive at Genworth Financial, former ambassador for The Risk Board, former executive consultant to the Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia, and founder of heartFELT	^[1]^[5]

Campaign

One of the major issues of the campaign is the impacts of COVID-19 on business and the lives of the constituents and the perceptions of Dominic Perrottet handling of the virus.^[6] Other issues include challenges of overdevelopment and the number of high rise towers in the area.^[6] Li has said that in theory he is not opposed to considering Chinese investment if the right opportunity came about.^[7]

There was criticism from the chair of the Ethnic Communities' Council of NSW Peter Doukas that the voting packs that were sent out to voters was not sent out in multiple languages. Strathfield has one of the highest proportions of non-English speakers, and the fear is that this could increase the rate of informal voting.^[8]

Most of the votes were postal, counted a week later on 19 February 2022.

Results

2022 Strathfield state by-election ^[9]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Jason Yat-Sen Li	18,034	41.05	−3.25
	Liberal	Bridget Sakr	15,921	36.24	−2.64
	Independent	Elizabeth Farrelly	4,328	9.85	+9.85
	Greens	Courtney Buckley	2,930	6.67	−2.12
	Sustainable Australia	Ellie Robertson	1,795	4.09	+4.09
	Animal Justice	Rohan Laxmanalal	920	2.09	−0.13
Total formal votes			43,928	98.42	+1.44
Informal votes			703	1.58	−1.44
Turnout			44,631	80.82	−8.22
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Jason Yat-Sen Li	21,670	55.81	+0.81
	Liberal	Bridget Sakr	17,160	44.19	−0.81
	Labor hold		Swing	+0.81

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Green, Antony. "Strathfield By-election". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
^ "Strathfield State by-election". NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
^ Green, Antony (10 February 2022). "Antony Green explains how living with COVID could affect elections, starting tomorrow". ABC News. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
^ "Nominated candidates for the 2022 Strathfield State by-election". NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
^ "Bridget Sakr will fight for the Strathfield community", Liberal Party NSW, 20 December 2021
^ ^a ^b Cormack, Lucy (5 February 2022). "'People are afraid to leave their homes': Strathfield byelection candidates gear up for a fight". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ Bagshaw, Eryk (28 April 2019). "Key Labor candidate says Parliament needs ethnic diversity targets". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ "Lack of multilingual information in Strathfield by-election postal votes not serving democracy, peak ethnic body says". ABC News. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ "LA - Check Count First Preference District Summary - Strathfield". Strathfield State By-Election 22-MAY-2021. NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
^ "LA - Check Count TCP District Summary - Strathfield". Strathfield State By-Election 12-FEB-2022. New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

External links

New South Wales Electoral Commission: Strathfield State by-election

[ABCelec-1] Green, Antony. "Strathfield By-election". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 January 2022.

[dates-2] "Strathfield State by-election". NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 11 February 2022.

[green-3] Green, Antony (10 February 2022). "Antony Green explains how living with COVID could affect elections, starting tomorrow". ABC News. Retrieved 11 February 2022.

[nswec-cand-4] "Nominated candidates for the 2022 Strathfield State by-election". NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 January 2022.

[5] "Bridget Sakr will fight for the Strathfield community", Liberal Party NSW, 20 December 2021

[:1-6] Cormack, Lucy (5 February 2022). "'People are afraid to leave their homes': Strathfield byelection candidates gear up for a fight". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 February 2022.

[:0-7] Bagshaw, Eryk (28 April 2019). "Key Labor candidate says Parliament needs ethnic diversity targets". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 February 2022.

[8] "Lack of multilingual information in Strathfield by-election postal votes not serving democracy, peak ethnic body says". ABC News. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.

[9] "LA - Check Count First Preference District Summary - Strathfield". Strathfield State By-Election 22-MAY-2021. NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

[2cp-results-10] "LA - Check Count TCP District Summary - Strathfield". Strathfield State By-Election 12-FEB-2022. New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

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