Canberra by-election, 1995
Encyclopedia
The 1995 Canberra by-election was held in the Australia
n electorate of Canberra
in Australian Capital Territory
on 25 March 1995. The by-election
was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party
's Ros Kelly
on 30 January 1995. The writ for the by-election was issued on 17 February 1995.
The by-election was won by Liberal Party
candidate Brendan Smyth
.
The by-election took place in the shadow of the "sports rorts" affair
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n electorate of Canberra
Division of Canberra
The Division of Canberra is an Australian Electoral Division in the Australian Capital Territory. The division was created in 1974 from the southern half of the old Division of Australian Capital Territory...
in Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
on 25 March 1995. The by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party
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...
's Ros Kelly
Ros Kelly
Ros Kelly AO was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Canberra from 18 October 1980 to 30 January 1995. She was a minister in the governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating....
on 30 January 1995. The writ for the by-election was issued on 17 February 1995.
The by-election was won by Liberal Party
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...
candidate Brendan Smyth
Brendan Smyth
Brendan Smyth was a Catholic priest who became notorious as a child molester, using his position in the Church to obtain access to his victims. During a period of over 40 years, Smyth sexually abused and indecently assaulted over 100 children in parishes in Belfast, Dublin and the United States...
.
The by-election took place in the shadow of the "sports rorts" affair
Sports rorts affair
The "sports rorts" affair was the name by which Australian media and political commentators came to refer to events during the second Keating ministry in late 1993 and early 1994, where the then Sports Minister, Ros Kelly, was unable to appropriately explain the distribution of federal sporting...
.