1994 Fremantle by-election

1994 Fremantle by-election

12 March 1994

First party Second party   Candidate Carmen Lawrence Geoff Hourn Party Labor Liberal Popular vote 32,707 23,047 Percentage 52.35% 36.89% Swing 2.15pp 1.85pp TPP 58.83% 42.21% TPP swing 1.04pp 1.04pp

MP before election John Dawkins Labor Elected MP Carmen Lawrence Labor

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, while the Liberal party preselected prominent businessman Geoff Hourn.

The campaign took place in the context 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.

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

See also

• List of Australian federal by-elections

External links

• Fremantle (WA) By-Election (12 March 1994), Australian Electoral Commission
• Election figures (John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, including polling places breakdown)