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TheDivision of New England (NSW) in theHouse of Representatives | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 110,685 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 87.05% 6.14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 TheDivision of New England covers 66,394 km² in northern rural New South Wales. From south to north it includes the regional population centres ofScone,Tamworth,Armidale,Glen Innes,Inverell andTenterfield. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A by-election for theAustralian House of Representatives seat ofNew England was held on 2 December 2017.
Previous incumbentBarnaby Joyce, serving asDeputy Prime Minister andNationals leader from February 2016 until October 2017 when his seat of New England was declared vacant, won the by-election with a large primary and two-party swing.[1][2]
Amid the2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis, the trigger for the by-election was thejudgment of theHigh Court of Australia sitting as theCourt of Disputed Returns on 27 October 2017, which found that the sitting member,Deputy Prime Minister andNationals leaderBarnaby Joyce, was ineligible underSection 44 of the Constitution to sit in the Parliament of Australia, by virtue of holdingNew Zealand citizenship at the time of his nomination and election. The seat was declared vacant by the High Court on the same day. Joyce had renounced his dual citizenship effective from August in order to become a sole citizen of Australia, and was thus eligible to run for the by-election.[3]
Speaker of the House of RepresentativesTony Smith issued the writ for the election on 27 October 2017, the same day as the High Court's judgment.[4]
As at least 33 days must elapse between the issue of a writ and the date of a by-election, the earliest Saturday that the by-election could take place was on 2 December.
Former independent member for New EnglandTony Windsor, who retired at the2013 election before unsuccessfully contesting the seat at the2016 election with a 29.2 percent primary vote, announced he would not be nominating as a candidate in the by-election.[5]Pauline Hanson's One Nation andShooters, Fishers and Farmers also announced that they would not run.[6]
| 17 candidates in ballot paper order[7] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Background | |
| Christian Democrats | Richard Stretton | Self-employed plant mechanic and perennial candidate. | |
| Animal Justice | Skyla Wagstaff | Environmental and animal rights activist. | |
| Affordable Housing | Andrew Potts | FormerSydney Star Observer contributor and party founder. | |
| Independent | Jeff Madden | Single father, part-time truck driver and traffic controller. | |
| Liberal Democrat | Tristam Smyth | Cardiologist based inTamworth. | |
| Independent | Dean Carter | Tamworth resident. | |
| National | Barnaby Joyce | New England MP 2013–2017, Nationals leader andDeputy Prime Minister 2016–2017.[3] | |
| #Sustainable | William Bourke | Party founder and perennial candidate. | |
| Seniors United | Warwick Stacey | Former business owner andArmy Reservist. | |
| Independent | Rob Taber | Independent Bennelong candidate in2016. New England Solar Owner and Jobs Australia Chairman. | |
| CountryMinded | Pete Mailler | Local cattle and grain farmer, CountryMinded co-founder. Queensland Senate candidate in2016.[8] | |
| Labor | David Ewings | Local coal miner andAustralian Defence Force personnel. Labor's New England candidate in2016.[3] | |
| Rise Up | Donald Cranney | Farmer based in south-central Queensland. | |
| Greens | Peter Wills | Quirindi farmer and Liverpool Plains Alliance campaigner.[3] | |
| 21st Century | Jamie McIntyre | Entrepreneur, banned from corporate directorships for 10 years by for property spruiking | |
| Science | Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow | Adviser to nutritional infant formula startup company and bio-hacker. | |
| Country | Ian Britza | FormerLiberal member of theWestern Australian Legislative Assembly. | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Barnaby Joyce | 57,016 | 64.92 | +12.63 | |
| Labor | David Ewings | 9,764 | 11.12 | +4.11 | |
| Independent | Rob Taber | 5,959 | 6.79 | +3.99 | |
| Greens | Peter Wills | 3,824 | 4.35 | +1.43 | |
| Christian Democrats | Richard Stretton | 2,129 | 2.42 | +1.03 | |
| CountryMinded | Pete Mailler | 2,112 | 2.40 | +0.99 | |
| Science | Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow | 1,183 | 1.35 | +1.35 | |
| Independent | Jeff Madden | 1,145 | 1.30 | +1.30 | |
| Animal Justice | Skyla Wagstaff | 930 | 1.06 | +1.06 | |
| Sustainable Australia | William Bourke | 628 | 0.72 | +0.72 | |
| Affordable Housing | Andrew Potts | 605 | 0.69 | +0.69 | |
| Independent | Dean Carter | 590 | 0.67 | +0.67 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Tristam Smyth | 515 | 0.59 | −0.62 | |
| Country | Ian Britza | 494 | 0.56 | +0.56 | |
| Rise Up Australia | Donald Cranney | 365 | 0.42 | +0.42 | |
| Seniors United | Warwick Stacey | 342 | 0.39 | +0.39 | |
| 21st Century | Jamie McIntyre | 222 | 0.25 | +0.25 | |
| Total formal votes | 87,823 | 91.06 | −1.90 | ||
| Informal votes | 8,618 | 8.94 | +1.90 | ||
| Turnout | 96,441 | 87.13 | −6.14 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| National | Barnaby Joyce | 64,664 | 73.63 | +7.21 | |
| Labor | David Ewings | 23,159 | 26.37 | −7.21 | |
| Nationalhold | Swing | +7.21 | |||
Early in the evening,ABC election analystAntony Green predicted an easy victory for Joyce. Claiming victory that evening, Joyce picked up a large primary and two-party swing.[1][2]
