INFORMATION, ANALYSIS AND ADVICE FOR THE PARLIAMENT INFORMATION AND RESEARCH SERVICES Current Issues Brief No. 15 2002–03 House of Representatives By-elections 1901–2002 DEPARTMENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY ISSN 1440-2009 Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2003 Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written consent of the Department of the Parliamentary Library, other than by Senators and Members of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official duties. This paper has been prepared for general distribution to Senators and Members of the Australian Parliament. While great care is taken to ensure that the paper is accurate and balanced, the paper is written using information publicly available at the time of production. 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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 2003 I NFORMATION AND R ESEARCH S ERVICES Current Issues Brief No. 15 2002–03 House of Representatives By-elections 1901–2002 Gerard Newman, Statistics Group Scott Bennett, Politics and Public Administration Group 3 March 2003 Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Murray Goot, Martin Lumb, Geoff Winter, Jan Pearson, Janet Wilson and Diane Hynes in producing this paper. Enquiries Information and Research Services publications are available on the ParlInfo database. On the Internet the Department of the Parliamentary Library can be found at: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/ IRS Publications Office Telephone: (02) 6277 2778 Contents Major Issues ........................................................ 1 Contests ......................................................... 1 Causes .......................................................... 1 Outcomes ........................................................ 2 The organisation of Commonwealth by-elections ............................. 3 The reasons why by-elections have been held .............................. 3 The timing of by-elections............................................ 4 Vacancies for which no by-election was held 1901–2002 ................... 5 Number of nominations.............................................. 6 Candidates per by-election ......................................... 6 Voter turnout ..................................................... 7 Party performance .................................................... 8 Seats lost at by-elections 1901–2002 .................................... 8 Impact upon party................................................ 8 Impact upon Government/Opposition ................................. 9 Party performance at by-elections 1901–2002 ........................... 9 By-elections caused by resignation—safeness of seat 1949–2002 ............ 10 Analysing by-election swings since 1949 ................................ 10 Average swings against government: by-elections 1949–2002............... 11 Two-party preferred swings, By-elections 1949–2002..................... 12 Personal and political matters........................................... 13 The changing of the old guard ........................................ 13 Future Prime Ministers ............................................. 13 The passing of Prime Ministers ....................................... 13 The passing of leaders of the Opposition ................................ 14 Family matters ................................................... 14 Famous entries into the House ........................................ 14 Kicked upstairs? .................................................. 15 A matter of treason ................................................ 16 By-elections that caused ripples ....................................... 16 Voided elections .................................................. 17 Endnotes ......................................................... 17 Appendix 1: Schedule of House of Representatives By-elections, 1901–2002 ........ 19 Appendix 2: Electoral division details..................................... 22 First past the post electoral system ................................... 22 Preferential voting electoral system .................................. 24 Appendix 3: Notes on Commonwealth by-elections ........................... 41 Appendix 4: By-election timing ......................................... 52 Appendix 5 ........................................................ 55 General studies ................................................... 55 Case studies ..................................................... 55 Commonwealth ................................................ 55 State ........................................................ 55 Party Abbreviations AAP Advance Australia Party ILCL Independent Liberal Country AC Australian Constitutionalist League AFI Australians Against Further ILib Independent Liberal Immigration INat Independent Nationalist ALP Australian Labor Party Ind Independent ANAG Australian National Action Group LFF Liberals for forests AntiSoc Anti-Socialist Lib Liberal Party AP Australia Party LibF Liberal Forum APPG Australian Pensioner Pressure LLab Lang Labor Group LP Liberal Party AR Australian Republican LRG Liberal Reform Group ARM Australian Reform Movement NA National Alliance ASP Australian Shooters Party NAP New Australian Party Atok Atokist Nat Nationalist CDP Christian Democratic Party NCPP Non-Custodial Parents Party CEC Citizens Electoral Council NGST No GST Party Com Communist Party NHP National Humanitarian Party Cons Conservative NLP Natural Law Party Const Constitutionalist NP National Party CP Country Party NSP National Socialist Party CRep Constitutional Republican PCP Progressive Conservative Party CTA Call to Australia PORP Property Owners’ Rights Party Dem Australian Democrats PP Progress Party DLP Democratic Labor Party Prot Protectionist DOGS Council for the Defence of ProtLab Protestant Labor Government Schools RARI Reclaim Australia: Reduce DSP Deadly Serious Party Immigration EcRef Economic Reform RPA Republican Party of Australia FLP Federal Labor Party RSNP Returned Soldiers National Party FLR Family Law Reform Party SA Socialist Alliance FP Farmers' Party SC Social Credit FPA Federal Party of Australia SLib State Liberal FST Australia First Party Soc Socialist FT Free Trade SPA Socialist Party of Australia Grn Greens SWP Socialist Workers' Party Gry Grey Power TA Taxpayers' Association GWA The Greens (WA) UAP United Australia Party HAN Pauline Hanson's One Nation UM Uninflated Movement HMP Help End Marijuana Prohibition Unite Unite Australia Party HPA Hope Party Australia UTG United Tasmanian Group ICP Independent CP UWU Unemployed Workers Union ILab Independent Labor VFU Victorian Farmers' Union VOTE Voice of the Elderly House of Representatives By-elections 1901–2002 Major Issues By-elections are held to fill vacancies in the House of Representatives. This paper gives details of by-elections held from the first for Darling Downs on 14 September 1901 to the most recent held on 19 October 2002 for Cunningham. Among the major points made in the paper: Contests • Since September 1901 there have been 140 by-elections, an average of 3.5 per parliament. • The number of contestants has grown over the years from 2.2 per by-election (1901–18) to 8.7 per by-election (1990–2002). • In only four cases (2.9 per cent) was a by-election contested by just a single candidate. • An increasing tendency has been for governments to avoid contesting by-elections in their opponents' safe seats. Since 1990 this has occurred in 10 of the 18 by-elections held. • In only seven cases (5 per cent) has the Opposition party failed to contest a by-election, the most recent case being Bradfield in 1952. Causes • Sixty-seven (47.9 per cent) of the by-elections occurred because of the death of the member, 67 (47.9 per cent) as the result of the resignation of the member, five (3.6 per cent) because of voided elections, and one (0.7 per cent) because of the expulsion of the Member from the House (Kalgoorlie 1920). • Since 1949 most by-elections have been caused by the resignation of the sitting member and have occurred in safe seats. Only eight of 52 by-elections in this period (15.4 per cent) have occurred in marginal seats. 1 House of Representatives By-elections 1901–2002 Outcomes • On 34 occasions (24.3 per cent) the party complexion of a seat has altered at a by- election. • Twenty-four of these (17.1 per cent) have been in seats lost by the government of the day. The most recent case was the loss of Ryan by the Coalition Government to Labor in 2001. • Four of the losses (2.9 per cent) have been by the Opposition of the day. The most recent case was the loss of Cunningham by Labor to the Greens in 2002. • The average two-party preferred swing against the government of the day has been 4.0 per cent, while the average swing in government-held seats was 5.0 per cent