2012 Heffron state by-election

A by-election occurred for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Heffron on Saturday 25 August 2012.[1] This was triggered by the resignation of former Premier of New South Wales and state Labor MP Kristina Keneally which she announced on 23 June 2012. Labor easily retained the seat with an increased margin. Ron Hoenig received a 60 percent primary and 70 percent two-candidate preferred vote.[2][3]

The location of the seat of Heffron within Sydney

The by-election was held on the same day as the Northern Territory election.

Dates
Date Event [4]
23 July 2012 Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[5]
23 July 2012 Close of electoral rolls
8 August 2012 Close of party nominations
9 August 2012 Close of independent nominations, ballot paper order draw conducted
13 August 2012 Early voting began
25 August 2012 Polling day, between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm

Background

Labor retained the seat of Heffron at the March 2011 New South Wales state election with a primary vote of 41.2 percent and a two-party-preferred vote of 57.1 percent – the sixth-safest of Labor's 20 seats won at the election of the 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Liberals won 33.3 percent of the primary vote in Heffron, the Greens won 19.0 percent, the CDP won 1.9 percent, with the remaining 4.6 percent to two independent candidates. There was a 16.3 percent two-party-preferred swing away from the Liberal/National Coalition government at the November 2011 Clarence by-election. The Liberals did not contest the Heffron by-election.[6][7][8]

Candidates

The four candidates in ballot paper order were as follows:

Candidate nominations [9]
  Labor Party Ron Hoenig Longest-serving Botany Bay Mayor.[10][11]
  Christian Democratic Party Robyn Peebles Pastor of West Ryde Church of the Good Shepherd, state and federal serial candidate.[10]
  Australian Greens Mehreen Faruqi Civil/environmental engineer and sustainability expert, contested Heffron at previous election.[10][12]
  Australian Democrats Drew Simmons Journalist and various positions in retail/management.[10][13]

Results
2012 Heffron by-election [2][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Ron Hoenig 20,501 58.9 +17.7
Greens Mehreen Faruqi 8,122 23.3 +4.4
Democrats Drew Simmons 3,749 10.8 +10.8
Christian Democrats Robyn Peebles 2,442 7.0 +5.1
Total formal votes 34,814 94.8 –1.9
Informal votes 1,910 5.2 +1.9
Turnout 36,724 65.9 –22.8
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor Ron Hoenig 21,863 70.0 +12.9
Greens Mehreen Faruqi 9,366 30.0 +30.0
Labor hold SwingN/A

Results are final.[2][15]

See also

References
  1. Farrow, Lauren; Lillebue, Steve (23 June 2012). "Former NSW premier Keneally bows out". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP.
  2. "2012 Heffron by-election results". Electoral Commission of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  3. Crawford, Barclay (26 August 2012). "Labor's joy as Ron Hoenig claims easy win in Heffron". The Sunday Telegraph. Australia.
  4. "2012 Heffron by-election dates". Electoral Commission of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 23 August 2012.
  5. "Writ of election: Heffron" (PDF). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  6. Nicholls, Sean (26 November 2010). "Keneally dash fails to draw out Liberals". The National Times. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  7. Mckenny, Leesha; Tovey, Josephine (7 July 2012). "Hoenig favourite to win Heffron with Liberals likely not to stand". The Age. Australia. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  8. "Botany Mayor to contest Keneally seat". ANC News. Australia. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  9. "2012 Heffron by-election candidates". Electoral Commission of New South wales. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012.
  10. Green, Antony. "2012 Heffron by-election". ABC News. Australia.
  11. "Ron Hoenig, Labor candidate for Heffron" (Press release). Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch). 6 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  12. "Greens preselect Dr Mehreen Faruqi for Heffron by-election" (Press release). NSW Greens. 16 July 2012. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  13. "New South Wales: Drew Simmons – Australian Democrats candidate for Heffron By-Election" (Press release). Australian Democrats. 27 July 2012. Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  14. Green, Antony. "2012 Heffron by-election results". ABC News. Australia.
  15. "Distribution of Preferences" (PDF). Electoral district of Heffron. Electoral Commission of New South Wales. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
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