2013 Australian federal election (Fairfax)

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Division of Fairfax (Qld) in theHouse of Representatives
Registered	95,411[1]
Turnout	93.41% ( 0.63)
First party Second party   Candidate Ted O'Brien Clive Palmer Party Liberal National Palmer United Primary vote 34,959 22,409 Percentage 41.32% 26.49% Swing 8.13 26.49 TCP 49.97% 50.03% TCP swing 7.03 50.03   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Elaine Hughes David Knobel Party Labor Greens Primary vote 15,429 7,046 Percentage 18.24% 8.33% Swing 9.07 9.67
MP before election Alex Somlyay Liberal National Elected MP Clive Palmer Palmer United

An election in theQueenslandelectorate ofFairfax took place on 7 September 2013 as part of the2013 Australian federal election.^[2][3] IncumbentLiberal National Party (LNP) MPAlex Somlyay did not seek re-election.^[4][5]

In anupset victory, billionaireClive Palmer – contesting as the leader of his newly-formedPalmer United Party (PUP) – defeated LNP candidateTed O'Brien by a margin of 53 votes in thetwo-candidate-preferred (TCP) count.^[6][7] The result took almost eight weeks to be confirmed, with theAustralian Electoral Commission (AEC) conducting the longestrecount in federal election history.^[8][9]

Alex Somlyay had held Fairfax for theLiberal Party since1990, when he defeated theNational Party following the retirement of incumbent memberEvan Adermann.^[10] His hold on the seat had only been seriously challenged twice – the first time in1998, when there was a 13.25% TCPswing against him, and the other in2007, when there was a 9.4% TCP swing.^[11][12]

Following the2010 federal election, Somlyay confirmed his plans to retire from parliament in 2013.^[13] Although there was an expectation that LNP campaign directorJames McGrath would contest preselection for Fairfax, he instead sought to run as the candidate for the neighbouring seat ofFisher.^[14] After that was unsuccessful, McGrath contested preselection for a position on the LNP'sSenate ticket, which he won.^[14] In November 2012, businessmanTed O'Brien won the LNP's preselection for Fairfax, defeating formernational rugby union team coachJohn Connolly.^[15]

In April 2013, billionaire and former LNP life memberClive Palmer formed thePalmer United Party (PUP) and announced he would contest Fairfax.^[16]

Candidates are listed in the order they appeared on the ballot.^[17][18]

TheFamily First Partyrecommended preferencing Labor above the LNP because of the issue ofsame-sex marriage, which Labor candidate Elaine Hughes indicated her opposition to.^[21]

Prior to the election,The Tally Room predicted that O'Brien "should have no trouble defeating Labor, and despite Clive Palmer's obnoxious claims, there is no evidence that Palmer is a serious threat to the LNP's hold on the seat".^[23]

Noelectorate opinion polling for Fairfax was published, althoughRoy Morgan Research said it predicted Palmer "could" win the seat.^[24][25] Anexit poll released byTen News at 4pmAEST on election day showed the PUP winning 9.5% of the vote in Queensland.^[26][27]

The indicativetwo-candidate-preferred count provided by theAustralian Electoral Commission (AEC) on election night was between the LNP and Labor.^[29] By 8:10pmAEST,ABC election analystAntony Green said the count would instead be between the LNP and the PUP.^[30] Palmer said he expected his party to win Fairfax and Fisher.^[30]

After the AEC realigned the TCP count, Palmer emerged with a narrow lead over O'Brien.^[24] It was also revealed that a sorting error during election night meant 760 votes were recorded as being from theBuderim polling booth, instead ofCoolum Beach, leading to Palmer seeking an injunction to stop counting.^[24][31] His application was rejected by theFederal Court of Australia on 17 September 2013.^[32][33] Palmer also stated that despite leading during the count, he would "be highly surprised if I won".^[34]

On 21 September 2013, the AEC declared Palmer had won Fairfax by a margin of 36 votes.^[35] After an automatic recount, which still resulted in a margin under 100 votes, a full recount was triggered.^[36][37]

The full recount began on 3 October 2013.^[24] Around 20,000 votes were recounted after five days, but more than half of those were challenged by scrutineers.^[38] During the count, Palmer increased his lead to as high as 67 votes.^[24] According to the AEC spokesperson, the "vast majority" of challenges had come from PUP representatives.^[39] By the end of the recounting, 50,099 of the 89,176 ballots were challenged, with 38,644 of those referred to the AEC for a decision.^[40][41]

On 31 October 2013, the AEC declared Palmer had won the seat by a margin of 53 votes following the recount.^[42][43]

• Results of the 2013 Australian federal election in Queensland
• Electoral results for the Division of Fairfax

• 2013 Australian federal election
• Clive Palmer

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