Higgins by-election, 2009
Encyclopedia
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives
seat of Higgins
on 5 December 2009. This was triggered as a result of the resignation of former Treasurer
and former Liberal Party
deputy leader Peter Costello
. The by-election was held on the same day as the Bradfield by-election
.
The by-election
was contested on the same boundaries drawn for Higgins at the 2007 federal election. At that election, the Liberal Party won the seat over the Labor Party
with 57.04 per cent of the vote on a two-party-preferred basis. The 2007 result was the closest in the seat's 60-year history
. The Liberal candidate has never had to go to preferences to win the seat.
The writ
for the by-election was issued on 30 October, with the rolls closing on 9 November. Candidate nominations closed 12 November, and were announced the following day.
-led Labor Party
defeated the incumbent John Howard
-led Liberal
-National
coalition
government. This marked the first change of government in over 11 years. Costello had served as Treasurer since 1996, and deputy Liberal leader since 1994, firstly under Alexander Downer
and then under John Howard. He returned to the backbenches.
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 defeat the Liberals in Higgins, and force the Liberals to preferences in Bradfield.
Liberal Kelly O'Dwyer focussed her campaigning on local issues and attempted to distance herself from federal affairs, whereas the Greens Clive Hamilton campaigned primarily for stronger action on climate change.
The Australian Labor Party
did not stand a candidate.
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
seat of Higgins
Division of Higgins
The Division of Higgins is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria.The division was created in 1949 and is named after Justice H. B. Higgins , who was a Victorian Member of the legislative assembly , president of the Carlton Football Club , Australian Member of Parliament , and justice of the...
on 5 December 2009. This was triggered as a result of the resignation of former Treasurer
Treasurer of Australia
The Treasurer of Australia is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising. He is the head of the Department of the Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government...
and former Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
deputy leader Peter Costello
Peter Costello
Peter Howard Costello AC is an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the Treasurer in the Australian government from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Treasurer in Australian history. Costello was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1990 to 2009, representing...
. The by-election was held on the same day as the Bradfield by-election
Bradfield by-election, 2009
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bradfield on 5 December 2009. This was triggered as a result of the resignation of former minister and ex-Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson...
.
The by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
was contested on the same boundaries drawn for Higgins at the 2007 federal election. At that election, the Liberal Party won the seat over the Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
with 57.04 per cent of the vote on a two-party-preferred basis. The 2007 result was the closest in the seat's 60-year history
Electoral results for the Division of Higgins
This is a list of electoral results for the Division of Higgins in Australian federal elections from the division's creation in 1949 until the present.- Members :-Elections in the 2010s:-Elections in the 2000s:...
. The Liberal candidate has never had to go to preferences to win the seat.
The writ
Writ of election
A writ of election is a writ issued by the government ordering the holding of a special election for a political office.In the United Kingdom and in Canada, this is the only way of holding an election for the House of Commons...
for the by-election was issued on 30 October, with the rolls closing on 9 November. Candidate nominations closed 12 November, and were announced the following day.
Background
Costello first won the seat of Higgins at the 1990 election, and retained the seat in the six subsequent elections. At the 2007 federal election, the opposition Kevin RuddKevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
-led Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
defeated the incumbent John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
-led Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
-National
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
government. This marked the first change of government in over 11 years. Costello had served as Treasurer since 1996, and deputy Liberal leader since 1994, firstly under Alexander Downer
Alexander Downer
Alexander John Gosse Downer is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was Foreign Minister of Australia from March 1996 to December 2007, the longest-serving in Australian history...
and then under John Howard. He returned to the backbenches.
Campaign
The Higgins and BradfieldBradfield by-election, 2009
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bradfield on 5 December 2009. This was triggered as a result of the resignation of former minister and ex-Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson...
by-election campaigns were overshadowed by Liberal infighting over Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was a proposed cap-and-trade system of emissions trading for anthropogenic greenhouse gases, due to be introduced in Australia in 2010 by the Rudd government, as part of its climate change policy. It marked a major change in the energy policy of Australia...
, culminating in the replacement of Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2004, and was Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party from 16 September 2008 to 1 December 2009.Turnbull has represented the Division...
with Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott
Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...
as Liberal leader. Although fairly safe on paper, some commentators including Malcolm Mackerras
Malcolm Mackerras
Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics.-Education and works:...
tipped the Greens to defeat the Liberals in Higgins, and force the Liberals to preferences in Bradfield.
Liberal Kelly O'Dwyer focussed her campaigning on local issues and attempted to distance herself from federal affairs, whereas the Greens Clive Hamilton campaigned primarily for stronger action on climate change.
Candidates
The following table is the order and party affiliation of each candidate that has nominated to contest the seat of Higgins. Candidates are placed in the order of the ballot paper.| allot Number | Party | Candidate | Profession | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
Stephen Murphy | Computer programmer | Supported by the unregistered Climate Sceptics Party The Climate Sceptics The Climate Sceptics are an Australian political party that describes itself as the world's first political party representing climate sceptics, dedicated to "...expose the fallacy of anthropogenic climate change".... |
||
| 2 | Australian Sex Party Australian Sex Party The Australian Sex Party is a Australian political party founded in 2009 in response to concerns over the influence of religion in politics. The party was born out of adult-industry lobby group, the Eros Association. Party leader, Fiona Patten, is CEO of Eros and the party's Registered Officer,... |
Fiona Patten Fiona Patten Fiona Patten is leader of the Australian Sex Party and a former sex worker . She is also the CEO of the Eros Association."Sex is deeply rooted in the lives of all Australians. It is relevant to hundreds of pieces of legislation made around the country.... |
Party leader | |||
| 3 | Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... |
Kelly O'Dwyer Kelly O'Dwyer Kelly Megan O'Dwyer is an Australian politician, and member for the Division of Higgins in the Australian House of Representatives... |
Executive, National Australia Bank | Former staffer for Peter Costello Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello AC is an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the Treasurer in the Australian government from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Treasurer in Australian history. Costello was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1990 to 2009, representing... |
||
| 4 | Liberal Democratic Party Liberal Democratic Party (Australia) The Liberal Democratic Party is a classical liberal Australian political party founded in 2001.-Party name:In 2007 the party tried to register federally under the name "Liberal Democratic Party" but this was opposed the by the Liberal Party, so the party chose to register as the "Liberty and... |
Isaac Roberts | Accountant | |||
| 5 | Australian Greens Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which... |
Dr Clive Hamilton Clive Hamilton Clive Charles Hamilton AM FRSA is an Australian public intellectual and Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics and the Vice-Chancellor's Chair in Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University. He is the Founder and former Executive Director of the The... |
Professor of Public Ethics, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics | Former Executive Director, the Australia Institute | ||
| 6 | Australian Democrats Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader... |
David Collyer | Former Parliamentary Advisor | Worked for former senator Lyn Allison Lyn Allison Lynette Fay "Lyn" Allison is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing the state of Victoria. She was the last federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Democrats.... |
||
| 7 | Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
Joseph Toscano Joseph Toscano Dr Joseph Toscano is a medical practitioner, a broadcaster and an anarchist who lives in Melbourne, Australia. He has become widely known as an anarchist spokesperson for the Anarchist Media Institute through his broadcasting on community radio, his frequent letters to newspapers such as The Age... |
Anarchist campaigner | |||
| 8 | One Nation | Steve Raskovy | Former Hungarian wrestler and refugee | |||
| 9 | Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
Peter Brohier | Lawyer | |||
| 10 | Democratic Labor Party Democratic Labor Party The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal... |
John Mulholland | Psychologist | |||
The Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
did not stand a candidate.