Pembroke state by-election, 2009
Encyclopedia
A by-election was held in the Tasmanian Legislative Council
Tasmanian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart...

 division of Pembroke
Electoral division of Pembroke
The Electoral Division of Pembroke is one of the 15 electorates or 'seats' in the Tasmanian Legislative Council or upper house. It is located on Hobart's Eastern Shore and includes a number of suburbs; Risdon Vale, Geilston Bay, Rose Bay, Lindisfarne, Warrane, Mornington, Bellerive, Howrah and...

on 1 August 2009. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting member Allison Ritchie
Allison Ritchie
Allison Maree Ritchie was an Australian Labor Party politician in the Tasmanian Legislative Council from 2001 to 2009. She was a member of the Hobart based seat of Pembroke. She was elected on 5 May 2001 at age 26; she was the youngest person ever to be elected to the Tasmanian Legislative Council...

.

Background

Ritchie was first elected to the Legislative Council in 2001 at the age of 26, the youngest person ever elected to that chamber. She spent nine and a half weeks as Minister for Planning and Workplace Relations in 2008, but resigned due to ill health. She announced her resignation from parliament amid allegations of nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....

 on 20 June 2009.

Candidates

The writ for the by-election was issued on 30 June 2009; nominations closed on 9 July. The eight candidates were:
  • Independent
    Independent (politician)
    In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

    — Honey Bacon, widow of former Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon
    Jim Bacon
    James Alexander Bacon, AC was Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004.-Early life:Bacon was born in Melbourne; his father Frank, a doctor, died when Jim was twelve, leaving him to be raised by his mother Joan. He was educated at Scotch College and later at Monash University, but he did not graduate....

    .
  • Independent
    Independent (politician)
    In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

    — Peter Cooper, a Clarence City Alderman (2008–present).
  • Independent
    Independent (politician)
    In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

    — James Crotty, former Labor
    Australian Labor Party
    The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

     candidate and considered the unofficial representative of the Government.
  • Liberal Party of Australia
    Liberal Party of Australia
    The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

    Vanessa Goodwin
    Vanessa Goodwin
    Vanessa Goodwin is an Australian politician. She has been the Liberal Party member for the seat of Pembroke in the Tasmanian Legislative Council since the Pembroke by-election on 1 August 2009....

    , a 39-year old lawyer and criminologist, was previously the Liberal candidate for the state seat of Franklin
    Division of Franklin (state)
    The Electoral Division of Franklin is one of the five electorates in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The division is named after Sir John Franklin, the arctic explorer who was Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1837-43...

     in 2006 and the federal candidate for the equivalent seat
    Division of Franklin
    The Division of Franklin is an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir John Franklin, the polar explorer who was Lt Governor of Van Diemen's Land 1843-46. It is located in southern Tasmania, including the Hobart suburbs of Bridgewater,...

     in 2007, achieving a rare swing to the Liberal Party.
  • Tasmanian Greens
    Tasmanian Greens
    The Tasmanian Greens are a political party in Australia which developed from numerous environmental campaigns in Tasmania, including the flooding of Lake Pedder and the Franklin Dam campaign...

    — Wendy Heatley, a 46-year-old lawyer.
  • Independent
    Independent (politician)
    In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

    — Richard James, a Clarence City Alderman( 1984–89, 1994–present). James previously contested Pembroke in 1995, 1999 and 2007.
  • Independent
    Independent (politician)
    In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

    — John Peers, a Clarence City Alderman (1994–present).
  • Independent
    Independent (politician)
    In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

    — Kit (Sharon) Soo, a public relations
    Public relations
    Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

     consultant.

Results

Distribution of Preferences

The distribution of preferences is shown in detail on the Tasmanian Electoral Commission website. In accordance with the preferential voting system, the following candidates were excluded in the order shown and their votes distributed to remaining candidates or declared exhausted (no more preferences): Soo, Cooper, Crotty, Peers, Bacon.

Vanessa Goodwin attained a quota (an absolute majority of formal votes) when two other candidates were left in the count, meaning that no two-party-preferred figure was attained.

External links

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