2009 Bradfield by-election

Australian parliamentary by-election April 2024 April 2022 2009 Bradfield by-election Australia parliamentary no 2007 Australian federal election 2007 5 December 2009 2010 Australian federal election 2010 Division of Bradfield Paul Fletcher 150x150px Liberal Party of Australia 39,815 56.44% 2.63 Susie Gemmell 150x150px Australian Greens 17,799 25.23% 13.97 TPP TPP swing 64.81% 1.36 35.19% 35.19 Division of Bradfield 2007.png 250px Location of Bradfield within metropolitan Sydney MP Brendan Nelson Liberal Party of Australia Paul Fletcher Liberal Party of Australia The 2009 Bradfield by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bradfield on 5 December 2009.https://archive.today/20120717151322/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/26/2724484.htm Higgins, Bradfield by-elections announced, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 October 2009. This was triggered as a result of the resignation of former minister and former Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson.My race is run, says retiring Nelson 25 August 2009 ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/25/2666332.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20090828010814/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/25/2666332.htm dead 28 August 2009 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.http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2009/08/a-byelection-in-bradfield.html A By-election in Bradfield: Antony Green's election blog Antony Green Antony Green Blogs.abc.net.au 2009-08-25 2010-06-25 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.http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/supplementary_by_elections/2009-bradfield/candidates.htm Candidates for Bradfield (NSW) 2009 by-election (Saturday 5 December) AEC 2007-06-08 2010-06-25 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 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.July 2023 Nelson first won the seat of Bradfield at the 1996 election.July 2023 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.July 2023 Campaign 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.https://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/politics/mackerras-predicts-boilover-in-higgins/news-story/6b3b9ac02e17c72942bef90caa86db1c Mackerras predicts boilover in Higgins: The Australian 3 December 2009 The Australian 2009-12-03 subscription 2010-06-25http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-day-that-changed-everything-20091203-k8po.html A day that changed everything: SMH 4 December 2009 Smh.com.au 2009-12-04 2010-06-25 Michelle Grattan Candidates 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.http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/supplementary_by_elections/2009-bradfield/candidates.htm The AEC has recently restructured our content Aec.gov.au 2007-06-08 2010-06-25 Ballot Number PartyCandidateProfessionNotes 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 http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2009/byelections/bradfield.htm Bradfield - 2009 federal by-election - ABC Elections (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Abc.net.au 2009-12-05 2010-06-25 6  Christian Democrats Robyn Peebles Religious minister 7  Greens Susie Gemmell Parliamentary Advisor Greens candidate for Bradfield at the 2007 federal election.http://www.ku-ring-gai.nsw.greens.org.au/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=20&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 2007 Bradfield candidate - Susie Gemmell :: Ku-ring-gai Greens 2009-09-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20091027051113/http://www.ku-ring-gai.nsw.greens.org.au/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=20&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 2009-10-27 dead 8  Christian Democrats Darryl Allen Retiree 9  Christian Democrats Leighton Thew Engineer 10   Sex Marianne Leishman Entertainer and law graduate http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/pole-dancer-aims-for-nelsons-old-seat-20091028-hl5a.html Pole dancer aims for Nelson's old seat: SMH 28/10/2009 News.smh.com.au 2009-10-28 2010-06-25 11  Independent Philip Dowling Education officer 12  Independent Simon Kelly IT businessman Priestley Andrew http://north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/pushing-to-make-safe-seat-marginal/ Pushing to make safe seat marginal - Local News - News | North Shore Times North-shore-times.whereilive.com.au 2010-06-15 2010-06-25 13  One Nation Victor Waterson Fitter and Turner Priestley Andrew http://north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/shaping-as-melbourne-cup-field/ Bradfield’s Melbourne Cup field - Local News - News | North Shore Times North-shore-times.whereilive.com.au 2010-06-15 2010-06-25 14   Liberal Democrats Lucy Gabb Search marketer 15  Independent Brian Buckley "Australian nationalist", a republican, anti-immigration and pro-refugee.Priestley Andrew http://north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/independent-to-stand-on-immigration/ Independent to stand on immigration: North Shore Times 08/09/2009 North-shore-times.whereilive.com.au 2010-06-15 2010-06-25 16  Liberal Paul Fletcher Former Optus executive http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/26/2697571.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20090929000341/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/26/2697571.htm dead 29 September 2009 Fletcher wins Liberals preselection for Bradfield: ABC News 26/09/2009 Abc.net.au 2009-09-26 2010-06-25 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 The Liberal Party retained the seat.http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2009/byelections/bradfield_higgins_commentary.htm Antony Green by-election commentary ABC 2009-12-05 2010-06-25 2009 Bradfield by-electionVirtual Tally Room: AEC https://web.archive.org/web/20091211220345/http://vtr.aec.gov.au/Default.htm 2009-12-11 Paul Fletcher Liberal 39,815 56.44 −2.63 Susie Gemmell Greens 17,799 25.23 +13.97 Marianne Leishman Sex Party 2,229 3.16 +3.16 Simon McCaffrey Democratic Labour 1,533 2.17 +2.17 Simon Kelly Independent 1,359 1.93 +1.93 |- | Climate Sceptics width:1px |   | style="text-align:left;"| Ind. Climate Sceptics | style="text-align:left;"| Bill Koutalianos | style="text-align:right;"| 1,191 | style="text-align:right;"| 1.69 | style="text-align:right;"| +1.69 |- James Whitehall Christian Democrats 1,054 1.49 § Goronwy Price Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy 758 1.07 +1.07 Deborah Burt CCC 686 0.97 +0.97 Brian Buckley Independent 618 0.88 +0.88 Lucy Gabb Liberal Democrats 589 0.83 +0.83 Philip Dowling Independent 555 0.79 +0.79 Victor Waterson One Nation 449 0.64 +0.64 Peter Hanrahan Independent 443 0.63 +0.63 Esther Heng Christian Democrats 362 0.51 § Andrew Hestelow Christian Democrats 285 0.40 § Leighton Thew Christian Democrats 187 0.27 § Jodi Luke Christian Democrats 170 0.24 § Robyn Peebles Christian Democrats 162 0.23 § Darryl Allen Christian Democrats 147 0.21 § David Pix Christian Democrats 100 0.14 § Joseph Pender Christian Democrats 57 0.08 § 70,548 91.00 −5.01 6,976 9.00 +5.01 77,524 81.51 −12.52 Liberal Paul Fletcher 45,725 64.81 +1.36 Greens Susie Gemmell 24,823 35.19 +35.19 Liberal N/A § The combined Christian Democrats vote was 3.58 percent, an increase of 1.84 percentage points. Aftermath 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 http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/row-of-biblical-proportions-20100316-qcmi.html Row of biblical proportions cdp.org.au 2010-03-17 2013-06-20 Sean Nicholls circulated by the campaign director Michael Darby. The platform of the CDP for the by-election was focused on the controversial Emissions Trading Scheme,http://www.cdp.org.au/federal-media-release/528-stop-the-ets.html Stop the ETS cdp.org.au 2009-11-20 2009-11-20 Fred Nile https://web.archive.org/web/20131114004650/http://www.cdp.org.au/federal-media-release/528-stop-the-ets.html 2013-11-14 dead which was supported by both the Liberal and Labor parties at the time of the by-election. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/dday-looms-for-turnbull-ets-20091123-it3k.html D-day looms for Turnbull Smh.com.au 2009-11-23 2009-11-23 Crystal Ja Changes to the CDP platform, as suggested by the controversial survey, had not been sighted or approved by many of its candidates. http://www.cdp.org.au/federal-media-release/506-bradfield-by-election-apology.html Nile Apology cdp.org.au 2009-12-14 2013-06-20 Fred Nile https://web.archive.org/web/20131114004709/http://www.cdp.org.au/federal-media-release/506-bradfield-by-election-apology.html 2013-11-14 dead 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.http://www.smh.com.au/national/nile-party-in-an-unholy-row-after-byelection-20091228-lhbk.html Nile party in an unholy row after byelection Smh.com.au 2009-12-29 2010-06-25 Sean Nicholls 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.http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/nile-scapegoat-calls-in-lawyers-20100216-o8zs.html Nile scapegoat calls in lawyers Smh.com.au 2010-02-17 2010-06-25 Sean Nicholls Leesha McKenny See also List of Australian federal by-elections 1952 Bradfield by-election References External links Bradfield by-election: Antony Green ABC Bradfield by-election: The Poll Bludger Category:2009 elections in Australia Category:New South Wales federal by-elections