2009 Bradfield by-election

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| <- 2007 | 5 December 2009 | 2010 ->

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Division of Bradfield
|  | First party  | Second party

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|

|  |
Candidate  | Paul Fletcher | Susie Gemmell
Party  | Liberal | Greens
Popular vote  | 39,815 | 17,799
Percentage  | 56.44% | 25.23%
Swing  |  2.63  |  13.97
TPP | 64.81% | 35.19%
TPP swing  |  1.36  |  35.19

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Location of Bradfield within metropolitan Sydney

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| MP before election

Brendan Nelson
Liberal

| Elected MP

Paul Fletcher
Liberal

|

The 2009 Bradfield by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bradfield on 5 December 2009.[1] This was triggered as a result of the resignation of former minister and ex-Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson.[2] The by-election was held on the same day as the Higgins by-election.

The by-election was contested on the same boundaries drawn for Bradfield at the 2007 federal election. At that election, the Liberal Party won the seat over the Labor Party with a 63.45 per cent of the vote on a two-party-preferred basis, making it the safest metropolitan seat in Australia for the Liberals. At the time, the 2007 result was the second-closest in the seat's 60-year history (after the 1952 Bradfield by-election against an independent). The Liberal candidate had never needed to go to preferences to win the seat.[3]

The writ for the by-election was issued on 30 October, with the rolls closing on 9 November. Candidate nominations closed on 12 November, and were announced the following day. At 22 candidates, it ties with the 1992 Wills by-election for the most candidates to contest a federal lower house seat.[4]

Both the Bradfield and Higgins by-elections were the last by-elections for the House of Representatives until the Griffith by-election held in February 2014.

## Background

[edit]

At the 2007 federal election, the opposition Kevin Rudd-led Labor Party defeated the incumbent John Howard-led Liberal-National coalition government. This marked the first change of government in over 11 years. Brendan Nelson had served in ministerial positions in the Howard government, before taking over the Liberal leadership from Howard after the election loss. He lost the leadership to Malcolm Turnbull less than a year later after sustained poor polling.[citation needed]

Nelson first won the seat of Bradfield at the 1996 election.[citation needed]

Nelson had initially indicated (16 February 2009) he would stay as the member until the next election, at which time he would retire from parliament. On 25 August 2009, however, he announced he would be resigning by late September, thus triggering a by-election. On 16 September 2009, he was appointed as Ambassador to the European Union, NATO, Belgium and Luxembourg. He officially resigned from the House on 19 October 2009.[citation needed]

## Campaign

[edit]

The Higgins and Bradfield by-election campaigns were overshadowed by Liberal infighting over Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, culminating in the replacement of Malcolm Turnbull with Tony Abbott as Liberal leader. Although fairly safe on paper, some commentators including Malcolm Mackerras tipped the Greens to win in Higgins, and force the Liberals to preferences in Bradfield.[5][6]

## Candidates

[edit]

The following table is the order and party affiliation of each candidate who has nominated to contest the seat of Bradfield on 5 December 2009.[7]

Ballot Number |  | Party | Candidate | Profession | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

1  |  | Christian Democrats | James Whitehall  | Property development  |
2  |  | Christian Democrats | Jodi Luke  | Teacher  |
3  |  | Independent | Peter Hanrahan  | Pensioner  |
4  |  | Independent | Bill Koutalianos  | Architecture graduate  | Endorsed by the unregistered Climate Sceptics Party
5  |  | Democratic Labor | Simon McCaffrey  | Obstetrician and gynaecologist | [8]
6  |  | Christian Democrats | Robyn Peebles  | Religious minister  |
7  |  | Greens | Susie Gemmell  | Parliamentary Advisor  | Greens candidate for Bradfield at the 2007 federal election.[9]
8  |  | Christian Democrats | Darryl Allen  | Retiree  |
9  |  | Christian Democrats | Leighton Thew  | Engineer  |
10  |  | Sex | Marianne Leishman  | Entertainer and law graduate  | [10]
11  |  | Independent | Philip Dowling  | Education officer  |
12  |  | Independent | Simon Kelly  | IT businessman  | [11]
13  |  | One Nation | Victor Waterson  | Fitter and Turner  | [12]
14  |  | Liberal Democrats | Lucy Gabb  | Search marketer  |
15  |  | Independent | Brian Buckley  |  | "Australian nationalist", a republican, anti-immigration and pro-refugee.[13]
16  |  | Liberal | Paul Fletcher | Former Optus executive  | [14]
17  |  | Christian Democrats | Andrew Hestelow  | Company director  |
18  |  | Christian Democrats | Esther Heng  | Secretary  |
19  |  | Christian Democrats | Joseph Pender  | Student  |
20  |  | Christian Democrats | David Pix  | Graphics teacher  |
21  |  | Climate Change Coalition | Deborah Burt  | Consultant  |
22  |  | Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy | Goronwy Price  | Director  |

The Australian Labor Party did not stand a candidate. The Christian Democrats suggested that they were considering running up to eleven candidates (eleven being the number of faithful disciples). The CDP ended up fielding nine candidates.

## Results

[edit]

The Liberal Party retained the seat.[15]

2009 Bradfield by-election[16] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Liberal | Paul Fletcher | 39,815  | 56.44  | −2.63
| Greens | Susie Gemmell  | 17,799  | 25.23  | +13.97
| Sex Party | Marianne Leishman  | 2,229  | 3.16  | +3.16
| Democratic Labour | Simon McCaffrey  | 1,533  | 2.17  | +2.17
| Independent | Simon Kelly  | 1,359  | 1.93  | +1.93
| Ind. Climate Sceptics | Bill Koutalianos  | 1,191  | 1.69  | +1.69
| Christian Democrats | James Whitehall  | 1,054  | 1.49  | §
| Nuclear Energy | Goronwy Price  | 758  | 1.07  | +1.07
| Climate Change | Deborah Burt  | 686  | 0.97  | +0.97
| Independent | Brian Buckley  | 618  | 0.88  | +0.88
| Liberal Democrats | Lucy Gabb  | 589  | 0.83  | +0.83
| Independent | Philip Dowling  | 555  | 0.79  | +0.79
| One Nation | Victor Waterson  | 449  | 0.64  | +0.64
| Independent | Peter Hanrahan  | 443  | 0.63  | +0.63
| Christian Democrats | Esther Heng  | 362  | 0.51  | §
| Christian Democrats | Andrew Hestelow  | 285  | 0.40  | §
| Christian Democrats | Leighton Thew  | 187  | 0.27  | §
| Christian Democrats | Jodi Luke  | 170  | 0.24  | §
| Christian Democrats | Robyn Peebles  | 162  | 0.23  | §
| Christian Democrats | Darryl Allen  | 147  | 0.21  | §
| Christian Democrats | David Pix  | 100  | 0.14  | §
| Christian Democrats | Joseph Pender  | 57  | 0.08  | §
Total formal votes  | 70,548  | 91.00  | −5.01
Informal votes  | 6,976  | 9.00  | +5.01
Turnout | 77,524  | 81.51  | −12.52
Two-candidate-preferred result
| Liberal | Paul Fletcher | 45,725  | 64.81  | +1.36
| Greens | Susie Gemmell  | 24,823  | 35.19  | +35.19
| Liberal hold | Swing | N/A |

§ The combined Christian Democrats vote was 3.58 percent, an increase of 1.84 percentage points.

## Aftermath

[edit]

The Christian Democratic Party's lead candidate, James Whitehall, resigned from the party soon after the by-election on strong disagreement with the content of a controversial and unauthorised survey[17] circulated by the campaign director Michael Darby. The platform of the CDP for the by-election was focused on the controversial Emissions Trading Scheme,[18] which was supported by both the Liberal and Labor parties at the time of the by-election.[19] Changes to the CDP platform, as suggested by the controversial survey, had not been sighted or approved by many of its candidates.[20] Whitehall's father, the party's junior deputy president, also resigned. Being the author of the survey, which included questions on whether the Government should be able to deport Muslims, and whether mosques and Islamic schools should be banned, Darby faced expulsion from the party.[21] He was ultimately relieved of his position, and party leader, Fred Nile, offered an apology for the survey, also stating that the CDP would not run multiple candidates in any electorates in future.[22]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Australian federal by-elections
* 1952 Bradfield by-election

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Higgins, Bradfield by-elections announced, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 October 2009.
2. ^ "My race is run, says retiring Nelson". ABC. 25 August 2009. Archived from the original on 28 August 2009.
3. ^ Antony Green (25 August 2009). "A By-election in Bradfield: Antony Green's election blog". Blogs.abc.net.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
4. ^ "Candidates for Bradfield (NSW) 2009 by-election (Saturday 5 December)". AEC. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
5. ^ "Mackerras predicts boilover in Higgins: The Australian 3 December 2009". Theaustralian.com.au. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
6. ^ Grattan, Michelle (4 December 2009). "A day that changed everything: SMH 4 December 2009". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
7. ^ "The AEC has recently restructured our content". Aec.gov.au. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
8. ^ "Bradfield - 2009 federal by-election - ABC Elections (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
9. ^ "2007 Bradfield candidate - Susie Gemmell :: Ku-ring-gai Greens". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
10. ^ "Pole dancer aims for Nelson's old seat: SMH 28/10/2009". News.smh.com.au. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
11. ^ Priestley, Andrew (15 June 2010). "Pushing to make safe seat marginal - Local News - News | North Shore Times". North-shore-times.whereilive.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
12. ^ Priestley, Andrew (15 June 2010). "Bradfield's Melbourne Cup field - Local News - News | North Shore Times". North-shore-times.whereilive.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
13. ^ Priestley, Andrew (15 June 2010). "Independent to stand on immigration: North Shore Times 08/09/2009". North-shore-times.whereilive.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
14. ^ "Fletcher wins Liberals preselection for Bradfield: ABC News 26/09/2009". Abc.net.au. 26 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
15. ^ "Antony Green by-election commentary". ABC. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
16. ^ Virtual Tally Room: AEC Archived 2009-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
17. ^ Nicholls, Sean (17 March 2010). "Row of biblical proportions". cdp.org.au. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
18. ^ Nile, Fred (20 November 2009). "Stop the ETS". cdp.org.au. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
19. ^ Ja, Crystal (23 November 2009). "D-day looms for Turnbull". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
20. ^ Nile, Fred (14 December 2009). "Nile Apology". cdp.org.au. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
21. ^ Nicholls, Sean (29 December 2009). "Nile party in an unholy row after byelection". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
22. ^ Nicholls, Sean; McKenny, Leesha (17 February 2010). "Nile scapegoat calls in lawyers". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2010.

## External links

[edit]

* Bradfield by-election: Antony Green ABC
* Bradfield by-election: The Poll Bludger

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