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The Division of Fremantle (WA) in the House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 103,149 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 66.09%  22.72 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Fremantle took place on Saturday 28 July 2018, following the resignation of incumbent Labor MP Josh Wilson.[1]
In early counting, within 90 minutes of the close of polls, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's psephologist Antony Green's electoral computer had predicted Labor to retain the electorate with an increased margin.[2] This election is notable for being the first time that a Liberal Democrats candidate was included in the two-candidate-preferred counting in an Australian federal election.
The by-election occurred on the same day as four other by-elections for the House of Representatives, colloquially known as Super Saturday.
Due to the High Court ruling against Senator Katy Gallagher on 9 May 2018 as part of the ongoing parliamentary eligibility crisis, Wilson and three other MPs in the same situation announced their parliamentary resignations later that day,[1] while the Perth incumbent resigned for family reasons.[3] The Speaker announced on 24 May 2018 that he had scheduled the by-elections to occur on 28 July 2018. Popularly labelled "Super Saturday", the occurrence of five simultaneous federal by-elections is unprecedented in Australian political history.[4] The others are:
Key dates in relation to the by-election are:[5]
| Candidates (7) in ballot paper order[6] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Background | |
| Christians | Mark Staer | Contested Cannington at the 2008 state election and Gosnells at the 2013 state election.[7] | |
| Greens | Dorinda Cox | Small business owner, former police officer, anti-domestic violence campaigner.[8] | |
| Animal Justice | Katrina Love | Party's national vice president and state convenor.[6] | |
| Labor | Josh Wilson | Previous MP for Fremantle elected at the 2016 federal election.[9] | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Gray | Former Navy officer, Notre Dame University law student, Starlight Children's Foundation entertainer.[10] | |
| People | James Harfouche | Curtin University commerce student.[6] | |
| Independent | Jason Spanbroek | Running on an anti-Labor platform.[11] | |
The Liberals declined to contest the Fremantle and Perth federal by-elections, but concentrated their resources on the Darling Range state by-election.[12]
| Date | Firm | Commissioned by | Sample | Primary vote | TCP vote | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALP | GRN | LDP | OTH | UND | ALP | GRN | |||||
| 23 July 2018 | ReachTEL | Legalise Vaping Australia[13] | 692 | 49.3% | 16.0% | 17.4% | 11.2% | 6.1% | 69% | 31% | |
| 2016 election | 41.0% | 17.7% | − | 41.3% | − | 57.5% | − | ||||
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Further information: Electoral results for the Division of Fremantle |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Josh Wilson | 33,277 | 52.62 | +11.63 | |
| Greens | Dorinda Cox | 10,456 | 16.53 | −1.21 | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Gray | 8,916 | 14.10 | +14.10 | |
| Christians | Mark Staer | 3,350 | 5.30 | +5.30 | |
| Animal Justice | Katrina Love | 3,297 | 5.21 | +5.21 | |
| Independent | Jason Spanbroek | 3,239 | 5.12 | +5.12 | |
| People's Party | James Harfouche | 708 | 1.12 | +1.12 | |
| Total formal votes | 63,243 | 92.76 | −3.24 | ||
| Informal votes | 4,933 | 7.24 | +3.24 | ||
| Turnout | 68,176 | 66.09 | −22.72 | ||
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Josh Wilson | 46,375 | 73.33 | +15.81 | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Gray | 16,868 | 26.67 | +26.67 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | N/A | |||
