Fremantle by-election, 1994

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, [Citation | publication-date = 20 December 1993 | date = November 1993 | title = L-NP Increasing Lead in WA | volume = 2520 | series = Morgan Poll (incorporating the Morgan Gallup Poll) | place = Melbourne | quote = 62% (unchanged) of electors approved of the way Dr. Lawrence does her job as Leader of the Opposition] 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, and a tussle between the Senate and the Labor government over documents relating to media ownership changes. [cite journal |last= Watt |first= Ian |year= 1994 |month= December |title= Political Chronicle - Commonwealth - January to June 1994 |journal= Australian Journal of Politics and History |volume= 40 |issue= 3 |pages= 379-382 |id= ISSN search link|0004-9522]

Results

Election box begin
title=Fremantle by-election, 1994Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Carmen Lawrence
party = Labor
votes = 32,707
percentage = 52.35
change = +2.15Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Geoff Hourn
party = Liberal
votes = 23,047
percentage = 36.89
change = –1.85Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Stephen Walker
party = Greens
votes = 5,215
percentage = 8.35
change = +1.59Election box candidate AU party
candidate = Raymond Conder
party = Independent
votes = 1,506
percentage = 2.41
change = +2.41

Election box formal
votes = 62,475
percentage = 97.40
change = +0.37

Election box informal
votes = 1,669
percentage = 2.60
change = –0.37

Election box turnout
votes = 64,144
percentage = 85.84
change = -10.26

Election box candidate AU party
party = Labor
candidate = Carmen Lawrence
votes =36,745
percentage = 58.83
change = +1.04

Election box candidate AU party
party = Liberal
candidate = Geoff Hourn
votes = 25,715
percentage = 42.21
change = –1.04

Election box hold AU party
winner = Labor
swing = +1.04

References

External links

* [http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/supplementary_by_elections/Fremantle.htm Fremantle (WA) By-Election (12 March 1994)] , Australian Electoral Commission
* [http://john.curtin.edu.au/fremantle/stats/1994.html Election figures] (John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, including polling places breakdown)