1994 Fremantle by-election

The 1994 Fremantle by-election was held in the Australian federal electorate of Fremantle in Western Australia on 12 March 1994. The by-election was triggered by the retirement of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's John Dawkins, on 4 February 1994. The writ for the by-election was issued on the same day.

Background

John Dawkins had held Fremantle for the Labor Party since 1977, and he had been a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, and had been Treasurer since December 1991. When the Cabinet rebelled against the budget he brought down in August 1993, Dawkins resigned from the Treasury and, after giving occasional signals of his rising disillusionment with political life, resigned from Parliament altogether.

The Labor party preselected former state Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence, who despite her party's defeat in the 1993 state election still maintained persistently high ratings in opinion polls,[1] while the Liberal party preselected prominent businessman Geoff Hourn.

The campaign took place in the contest of tensions within the Liberal party over the leadership of Dr John Hewson, and parliamentary conflict over the sports rorts affair which had engulfed a Labor minister Ros Kelly, and a tussle between the Senate and the Labor government over documents relating to media ownership changes.[2]

Lawrence resigned from her state seat of Glendalough in order to contest Fremantle.

The Glendalough by-election was held a week later on March 19 and both by-elections were contested by independent Raymond Conder.

Results
Fremantle by-election, 1994
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labor Carmen Lawrence 32,707 52.35 +2.15
Liberal Geoff Hourn 23,047 36.89 −1.85
Greens Stephen Walker 5,215 8.35 +1.59
Independent Raymond Conder 1,506 2.41 +2.41
Total formal votes 62,475 97.40 +0.37
Informal votes 1,669 2.60 −0.37
Turnout 64,144 85.84 −10.26
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Carmen Lawrence 36,745 58.83 +1.04
Liberal Geoff Hourn 25,715 42.21 −1.04
Labor hold Swing+1.04
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See also

References
  1. "L-NP Increasing Lead in WA". Morgan Poll (incorporating the Morgan Gallup Poll). 2520. Melbourne (published 20 December 1993). November 1993. 62% (unchanged) of electors approved of the way Dr. Lawrence does her job as Leader of the Opposition Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Watt, Ian (December 1994). "Political Chronicle - Commonwealth - January to June 1994". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 40 (3): 379–382. 0004-9522.
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