Mundingburra state by-election, 1996
Encyclopedia
The Mundingburra state by-election, 1996 was a by-election
held on 3 February 1996 for the Queensland
Legislative Assembly
seat of Mundingburra
, located in the southern suburbs of Townsville
. It was brought on by the Court of Disputed Returns declaring void the close result of the July 1995 election in the normally safe Labor seat, and resulted in the end of the Goss Ministry
headed by Labor
Premier Wayne Goss
, and the swearing in of a minority government led by Nationals
leader Rob Borbidge
.
under Premier Wayne Goss
hoping to win a third term in office. About ten seats were too close to call in early counting, and it was some days before the result was declared—a nine-seat loss for Labor, giving it 45 of 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and a two-party-preferred swing against it of 7.15%. The last seat to be declared on 25 July was the Townsville
-based seat of Mundingburra
, which Labor's Ken Davies
won by just 16 votes in a three-candidate race against Liberal
candidate Frank Tanti. This represented an 8% swing against Davies based on the 1992 result. On 31 July 1995, Goss elevated Davies to the lowest-ranking position in the ministry, assigning him the portfolios of Emergency Services and Consumer Affairs.
On 4 August, the Liberal Party decided to challenge the result on several counts. The Liberals claimed multiple voting had occurred and that 165 people were not at the addresses they had provided. Most seriously, they claimed 22 overseas military personnel did not get to vote, as a plane carrying about 100 votes from Rwanda
arrived too late for the votes to be counted. The challenge was heard concurrently with a Labor challenge to the result in Greenslopes
, which the Liberals had won by 41 votes, by Justice Brian Ambrose. On 8 December 1995, Ambrose determined that no breach of the Electoral Act had occurred, but the closeness of the result together with the issue of the 22 military votes meant that the election should be voided and re-run. The Greenslopes result was maintained on the basis of the larger margin between the parties despite a finding that the Electoral Act had not been entirely observed.
The result was that Labor had 44 seats, the Coalition 43, and Gladstone
independent Liz Cunningham
held the remaining seat. If Labor was to win the seat, they would regain their one-seat majority, but if they lost it and the House was equally divided, then Cunningham would get to select the government. She refused to indicate which way she would lean, arguing that Mundingburra electors should cast their vote first without undue pressure.
On 12 December 1995, Goss called the poll for 3 February 1996, pleading with voters in the electorate to end the political instability "bedevilling" the state. He said the date would give voters the "shortest campaign possible and the earliest opportunity" to make their choice, acknowledging that the 1995 result was "a kick in the pants", but insisting the Government had learned its lesson. Both the Coalition and Labor campaigns asked their parties' Federal leaders to stay away from the campaign in order that state and federal issues not become conflated. Goss told the Sunday program that he felt "there's a bit of an 'It's Time
' factor developing" for Prime Minister Paul Keating
, and that if he was to lose the poll, "I'll accept the responsibility for that and it won't be any southern politician who's been here." Meanwhile, Liberal campaign director Jim Barron believed federal Opposition Leader John Howard
had "got enough on his plate anyway" and that there was "[no] necessity to bring in other key political figures from outside the State."
, Liberal candidate Frank Tanti and Greens
candidate Russell Cumming. Davies, formerly an accountant, had been a member of the Assembly since the 1989 election. However, Davies was fighting a $690,000 lawsuit lodged by the Commonwealth Bank over his former accountancy practice—which, if it had resulted in his having to declare bankruptcy, would have caused the forfeiture of his seat. On 15 December 1995, the party's administrative committee met for 2½ hours and resolved not to preselect Davies as its candidate for the election, and a day later approved the nomination of the long-serving Mayor of the City of Townsville, Tony Mooney
. One factor in the decision was internal ALP polling which suggested Davies had become an electoral liability in the seat and Mooney, who was considered to be popular and articulate and who had won 58% of the vote as mayor in the electorate's booths, was their best hope. Malcolm Mackerras
, a leading political analyst, believed the decision was "fully justified", and that "if they'd kept [Davies], they'd have thrown the seat away", noting that the 9.4% primary vote swing against Davies at the election was much greater than the state average and one of the biggest against a sitting Labor candidate in what should have been one of Labor's safest seats.
The decision proved to be controversial. The following week, the Greens
, who had polled 11.5% of the vote at the 1995 election, had suggested they may not preference Mooney due to his pro-development stance and previous clashes with the environmental movement, especially over the Nelly Bay
resort development on Magnetic Island
, and Davies, who was directing all calls to the Sydney promoter Harry M. Miller
, announced that he had a story that would "rock the Goss Government" when it was told. On 21 December, Davies hit out directly at Goss, accusing him of breaking a promise made to him before he entered politics, saying, "It was a package he was offering me. He made a commitment to me and I expected him to abide by that commitment." He asserted the claims he would be bankrupted by the legal case were "uninformed", and that the case was public knowledge before he was appointed to the Ministry. He announced on 9 January 1996 that he would run as an independent, and told the media he had been discussing with Liz Cunningham about "how two independents could work together for the benefit of the people of Queensland".
The Liberals re-ran with Frank Tanti, a local shop manager and cabinet-maker with military experience and strong religious beliefs. They ran a low-key campaign which said little about his agenda should he win, but did criticise the closure of two railway workshops in Townsville which was estimated to have cost 300 jobs. When asked about bigger issues, he replied, "I am not expected to know everything. I am not in a position to stuff things up." Queensland political commentator Professor John Wanna later described him as "the little local battler, who campaigned earnestly but was widely regarded as a politically unsophisticated nobody."
The Greens' bid imploded before the campaign began, due to disagreements between the party's preselected candidate, Tony Clunies-Ross, and the party hierarchy over preferences. In the end the Greens did not run a candidate. However, by the end of December, the Australian Women's Party
had preselected candidate Pauline Woodbridge from the Northern Queensland Domestic Violence Resource Centre, whilst the North Queensland Party advocating a separate state, the right-wing Australians Party, a nude beach campaigner from Surfers Paradise
, two independents seeking the legalisation of marijuana, another advocating the rights of subcontractors against failed construction companies and one desiring a new power station had also announced their candidacy in the race. On 12 January 1996, the ballot was drawn with a record 12 candidates, most of whom were independents.
1 billion Korean zinc refinery if elected. It would, once finished, be the biggest zinc smelter and refinery complex in the world. However, this announcement was somewhat overshadowed by media interest in dumped candidate Davies's comments. By 23 December, polls were predicting a slim victory for the Liberals, and by 7 January this had widened to an eight per cent lead, with 39% of voters in an AGB McNair poll indicating that they were less likely to vote for Labor over the replacement of Davies with Mooney, whilst 29% indicated they were more likely. Labor fought back by leaking details of how Davies had hired his wife as an electoral secretary while in Parliament, and Goss indicated that he would consider approaching the Governor for fresh elections if Tanti won. Some Labor critics saw this as evidence he was "losing the plot" and should be replaced as leader by Health Minister Peter Beattie
, a member of Labor's "old guard" faction at odds with the dominant Australian Workers' Union
faction in the state party.
The campaign took a turn for the bizarre when Davies revealed on 15 January that he had been offered an all-expenses-paid seven-week holiday in the South Pacific and a $50,000-a-year job as a party organiser by the Labor Party. Senior minister Bob Gibbs
admitted these had been offered to Davies, but simply "to help him through a stressful and difficult time... [and] to see him through his financial difficulties." Labor went on the attack, offering to open its lawyers' files in an effort to prove Davies had not been offered inducements not to run, which would have been a violation of the Electoral Act. The Liberal candidate contacted the police and the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) to investigate Davies' claims, while the Electoral Commissioner, Des O'Shea, said the integrity of the by-election was not in jeopardy as Davies had stood for election anyway. On 1 February, the CJC cleared the Labor Party.
The task of winning became more complicated when on 26 January, Paul Keating
announced the federal election for 2 March. Goss claimed that Mundingburra voters were annoyed with "all the outside issues, all the blow-ins... and the mud-slinging and the game playing", which he labelled as "outside distractions". An opinion poll by Newspoll on 29–31 January, conducted with 912 voters within the electorate, suggested Labor had narrowed the gap to 3%, although with 3% of the electorate still undecided about how they would vote. The final poll before the election, taken by AGB McNair on 31 January and 1 February, put Mooney marginally ahead.
Professor Wanna later commented that "with Labor in disarray, no amount of money, campaign tactics or flying visits could repair the damage." A political commentator based in Townsville told the Sydney Morning Herald that the electoral roll had changed by about 30% since July, due to a lot of movement by public servants and the army, and that some new residents did not qualify to vote as they had arrived too late to enrol. On election day, The Age described the campaign in retrospect as a "thrill-a-minute plot with spellbinding dirty tricks that have kept locals—used to this sort of thing—away in droves", and characterised the main candidates as "the man who talks to God, the man who runs on hurt, or the ambitious Mayor".
of what had previously been a one seat majority. The election of Liberal candidate Frank Tanti produced a hung parliament
with Labor holding 44 seats, the National-Liberal coalition
holding 44 seats, and the balance of power held by the sole independent
Liz Cunningham
.
On 12 February 1996—nine days after the Mundingburra by-election—Cunningham announced her support for the National-Liberal coalition. Facing certain defeat on the floor of parliament, Goss resigned his commission on 20 February, and National Party leader Rob Borbidge
was sworn in as the new Premier of Queensland.
The seat returned to Labor at the 1998 state election, when Lindy Nelson-Carr
won against Tanti on a 6.7% swing.
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
held on 3 February 1996 for the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
Legislative Assembly
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
seat of Mundingburra
Electoral district of Mundingburra
The district of Mundingburra is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.- Overview :The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland. Significant utilities within the Mundingburra electorate are the Townsville Hospital,...
, located in the southern suburbs of Townsville
Townsville, Queensland
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...
. It was brought on by the Court of Disputed Returns declaring void the close result of the July 1995 election in the normally safe Labor seat, and resulted in the end of the Goss Ministry
Goss Ministry
The Goss Ministry was a Ministry of the Government of Queensland, led by Labor Premier Wayne Goss. It commenced on 7 December 1989, five days after the Cooper Ministry, led by Premier Russell Cooper of the National Party, was defeated at the 1989 election...
headed by 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...
Premier Wayne Goss
Wayne Goss
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland...
, and the swearing in of a minority government led by Nationals
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
leader Rob Borbidge
Rob Borbidge
Robert Edward Borbidge AO , Australian politician, was the 35th Premier of Queensland, and leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party...
.
Background
The state election was held on 15 July 1995, with the Labor PartyAustralian 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...
under Premier Wayne Goss
Wayne Goss
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland...
hoping to win a third term in office. About ten seats were too close to call in early counting, and it was some days before the result was declared—a nine-seat loss for Labor, giving it 45 of 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and a two-party-preferred swing against it of 7.15%. The last seat to be declared on 25 July was the Townsville
Townsville, Queensland
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...
-based seat of Mundingburra
Electoral district of Mundingburra
The district of Mundingburra is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.- Overview :The seat is one of four within the Townsville urban area in North Queensland. Significant utilities within the Mundingburra electorate are the Townsville Hospital,...
, which Labor's Ken Davies
Ken Davies (politician)
Ken Davies is an Australian politician who represented the electoral district of Mundingburra, Queensland state, for the Labor Party. He was first elected in 1989. For six years, he was the head of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Commission, and then was promoted to cabinet, in a junior...
won by just 16 votes in a three-candidate race against Liberal
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 Frank Tanti. This represented an 8% swing against Davies based on the 1992 result. On 31 July 1995, Goss elevated Davies to the lowest-ranking position in the ministry, assigning him the portfolios of Emergency Services and Consumer Affairs.
On 4 August, the Liberal Party decided to challenge the result on several counts. The Liberals claimed multiple voting had occurred and that 165 people were not at the addresses they had provided. Most seriously, they claimed 22 overseas military personnel did not get to vote, as a plane carrying about 100 votes from Rwanda
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
The United Nations Assistance Mission In Rwanda was a mission instituted by the United Nations to aid the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed August 4, 1993, which were meant to end the Rwandan Civil War. The mission lasted from October 1993 to March 1996...
arrived too late for the votes to be counted. The challenge was heard concurrently with a Labor challenge to the result in Greenslopes
Electoral district of Greenslopes
-External links:*...
, which the Liberals had won by 41 votes, by Justice Brian Ambrose. On 8 December 1995, Ambrose determined that no breach of the Electoral Act had occurred, but the closeness of the result together with the issue of the 22 military votes meant that the election should be voided and re-run. The Greenslopes result was maintained on the basis of the larger margin between the parties despite a finding that the Electoral Act had not been entirely observed.
The result was that Labor had 44 seats, the Coalition 43, and Gladstone
Electoral district of Gladstone
The district of Gladstone is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The current member is independent Liz Cunningham who won the seat on National Party preferences after defeating then Labor MP Neil Bennett at the 1995 election...
independent Liz Cunningham
Liz Cunningham
Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Cunningham is an Australian politician. She has been an independent member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 1995, representing the electorate of Gladstone...
held the remaining seat. If Labor was to win the seat, they would regain their one-seat majority, but if they lost it and the House was equally divided, then Cunningham would get to select the government. She refused to indicate which way she would lean, arguing that Mundingburra electors should cast their vote first without undue pressure.
On 12 December 1995, Goss called the poll for 3 February 1996, pleading with voters in the electorate to end the political instability "bedevilling" the state. He said the date would give voters the "shortest campaign possible and the earliest opportunity" to make their choice, acknowledging that the 1995 result was "a kick in the pants", but insisting the Government had learned its lesson. Both the Coalition and Labor campaigns asked their parties' Federal leaders to stay away from the campaign in order that state and federal issues not become conflated. Goss told the Sunday program that he felt "there's a bit of an 'It's Time
It's Time
It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative government, Labor put forward a raft of major policy proposals, accompanied by a...
' factor developing" for Prime Minister Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
, and that if he was to lose the poll, "I'll accept the responsibility for that and it won't be any southern politician who's been here." Meanwhile, Liberal campaign director Jim Barron believed federal Opposition Leader John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
had "got enough on his plate anyway" and that there was "[no] necessity to bring in other key political figures from outside the State."
The first weeks: selecting the candidates
The original poll had been between the incumbent member, Labor candidate Ken DaviesKen Davies (politician)
Ken Davies is an Australian politician who represented the electoral district of Mundingburra, Queensland state, for the Labor Party. He was first elected in 1989. For six years, he was the head of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Commission, and then was promoted to cabinet, in a junior...
, Liberal candidate Frank Tanti and Greens
Queensland Greens
The Queensland Greens is a Green party in the Australian state of Queensland, and a member of the federation of the Australian Greens. The party was founded in November 1991 and made its electoral debut at the 1993 federal election...
candidate Russell Cumming. Davies, formerly an accountant, had been a member of the Assembly since the 1989 election. However, Davies was fighting a $690,000 lawsuit lodged by the Commonwealth Bank over his former accountancy practice—which, if it had resulted in his having to declare bankruptcy, would have caused the forfeiture of his seat. On 15 December 1995, the party's administrative committee met for 2½ hours and resolved not to preselect Davies as its candidate for the election, and a day later approved the nomination of the long-serving Mayor of the City of Townsville, Tony Mooney
Tony Mooney
Anthony John "Tony" Mooney AM is an Australian politician and was a City Councillor of the City of Townsville, Queensland from 1977 to 2008, and the Mayor from 1989 to 2008.-Overview:...
. One factor in the decision was internal ALP polling which suggested Davies had become an electoral liability in the seat and Mooney, who was considered to be popular and articulate and who had won 58% of the vote as mayor in the electorate's booths, was their best hope. Malcolm Mackerras
Malcolm Mackerras
Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics.-Education and works:...
, a leading political analyst, believed the decision was "fully justified", and that "if they'd kept [Davies], they'd have thrown the seat away", noting that the 9.4% primary vote swing against Davies at the election was much greater than the state average and one of the biggest against a sitting Labor candidate in what should have been one of Labor's safest seats.
The decision proved to be controversial. The following week, the Greens
Queensland Greens
The Queensland Greens is a Green party in the Australian state of Queensland, and a member of the federation of the Australian Greens. The party was founded in November 1991 and made its electoral debut at the 1993 federal election...
, who had polled 11.5% of the vote at the 1995 election, had suggested they may not preference Mooney due to his pro-development stance and previous clashes with the environmental movement, especially over the Nelly Bay
Nelly Bay, Queensland
Nelly Bay is a village on Magnetic Island, and a suburb of the City of Townsville, Australia. A tourism hub on the island, it is especially significant as the site of the ferry terminal, which links it to Townsville...
resort development on Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island is an island offshore from the city of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. This mountainous island in Cleveland Bay has effectively become a suburb of Townsville, with 2,107 permanent residents. The island is accessible from Townsville Breakwater to Nelly Bay Harbour by ferry...
, and Davies, who was directing all calls to the Sydney promoter Harry M. Miller
Harry M. Miller
-Early career:Born in New Zealand, Miller grew up in Grey Lynn, Auckland, and moved to Australia in 1963, where he established a company called Pan Pacific Productions with Keith and Dennis Wong, owners of the noted Sydney nightclub "Chequers"...
, announced that he had a story that would "rock the Goss Government" when it was told. On 21 December, Davies hit out directly at Goss, accusing him of breaking a promise made to him before he entered politics, saying, "It was a package he was offering me. He made a commitment to me and I expected him to abide by that commitment." He asserted the claims he would be bankrupted by the legal case were "uninformed", and that the case was public knowledge before he was appointed to the Ministry. He announced on 9 January 1996 that he would run as an independent, and told the media he had been discussing with Liz Cunningham about "how two independents could work together for the benefit of the people of Queensland".
The Liberals re-ran with Frank Tanti, a local shop manager and cabinet-maker with military experience and strong religious beliefs. They ran a low-key campaign which said little about his agenda should he win, but did criticise the closure of two railway workshops in Townsville which was estimated to have cost 300 jobs. When asked about bigger issues, he replied, "I am not expected to know everything. I am not in a position to stuff things up." Queensland political commentator Professor John Wanna later described him as "the little local battler, who campaigned earnestly but was widely regarded as a politically unsophisticated nobody."
The Greens' bid imploded before the campaign began, due to disagreements between the party's preselected candidate, Tony Clunies-Ross, and the party hierarchy over preferences. In the end the Greens did not run a candidate. However, by the end of December, the Australian Women's Party
Australian Women's Party (1995)
The Australian Women's Party was a minor Australian feminist party that was first registered with the Australian Electoral Commission on 19 December 1995 and was deregistered on 22 April 2003. Its main platform consisted of a constitutional alteration to ensure equal representation of men and women...
had preselected candidate Pauline Woodbridge from the Northern Queensland Domestic Violence Resource Centre, whilst the North Queensland Party advocating a separate state, the right-wing Australians Party, a nude beach campaigner from Surfers Paradise
Surfers Paradise, Queensland
Surfers Paradise is a suburb on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 Census, Surfers Paradise had a population of 18,501....
, two independents seeking the legalisation of marijuana, another advocating the rights of subcontractors against failed construction companies and one desiring a new power station had also announced their candidacy in the race. On 12 January 1996, the ballot was drawn with a record 12 candidates, most of whom were independents.
Other events
On 19 December, Goss fired the first shot in the campaign by promising a A$Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
1 billion Korean zinc refinery if elected. It would, once finished, be the biggest zinc smelter and refinery complex in the world. However, this announcement was somewhat overshadowed by media interest in dumped candidate Davies's comments. By 23 December, polls were predicting a slim victory for the Liberals, and by 7 January this had widened to an eight per cent lead, with 39% of voters in an AGB McNair poll indicating that they were less likely to vote for Labor over the replacement of Davies with Mooney, whilst 29% indicated they were more likely. Labor fought back by leaking details of how Davies had hired his wife as an electoral secretary while in Parliament, and Goss indicated that he would consider approaching the Governor for fresh elections if Tanti won. Some Labor critics saw this as evidence he was "losing the plot" and should be replaced as leader by Health Minister Peter Beattie
Peter Beattie
Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...
, a member of Labor's "old guard" faction at odds with the dominant Australian Workers' Union
Australian Workers' Union
The Australian Workers' Union is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s, and currently has approximately 135,000 members...
faction in the state party.
The campaign took a turn for the bizarre when Davies revealed on 15 January that he had been offered an all-expenses-paid seven-week holiday in the South Pacific and a $50,000-a-year job as a party organiser by the Labor Party. Senior minister Bob Gibbs
Bob Gibbs (Australian politician)
Robert James "Bob" Gibbs is a former Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1999, representing Wolston until 1992 and Bundamba thereafter....
admitted these had been offered to Davies, but simply "to help him through a stressful and difficult time... [and] to see him through his financial difficulties." Labor went on the attack, offering to open its lawyers' files in an effort to prove Davies had not been offered inducements not to run, which would have been a violation of the Electoral Act. The Liberal candidate contacted the police and the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) to investigate Davies' claims, while the Electoral Commissioner, Des O'Shea, said the integrity of the by-election was not in jeopardy as Davies had stood for election anyway. On 1 February, the CJC cleared the Labor Party.
The task of winning became more complicated when on 26 January, Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
announced the federal election for 2 March. Goss claimed that Mundingburra voters were annoyed with "all the outside issues, all the blow-ins... and the mud-slinging and the game playing", which he labelled as "outside distractions". An opinion poll by Newspoll on 29–31 January, conducted with 912 voters within the electorate, suggested Labor had narrowed the gap to 3%, although with 3% of the electorate still undecided about how they would vote. The final poll before the election, taken by AGB McNair on 31 January and 1 February, put Mooney marginally ahead.
Professor Wanna later commented that "with Labor in disarray, no amount of money, campaign tactics or flying visits could repair the damage." A political commentator based in Townsville told the Sydney Morning Herald that the electoral roll had changed by about 30% since July, due to a lot of movement by public servants and the army, and that some new residents did not qualify to vote as they had arrived too late to enrol. On election day, The Age described the campaign in retrospect as a "thrill-a-minute plot with spellbinding dirty tricks that have kept locals—used to this sort of thing—away in droves", and characterised the main candidates as "the man who talks to God, the man who runs on hurt, or the ambitious Mayor".
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 15 July 1995 | Elections were held across Queensland to fill 89 seats in the Legislative Assembly Queensland Legislative Assembly The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system... . |
| 25 July 1995 | The seat of Mundingburra was declared with a margin of 16 votes for the incumbent member, Labor's Ken Davies. |
| 4 August 1995 | The Liberal Party confirmed they would challenge the result in the Court of Disputed Returns. |
| 8 December 1995 | Justice Brian Ambrose declared the Mundingburra poll void and the seat vacant. |
| 12 December 1995 | Premier Wayne Goss Wayne Goss Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland... requested that the Governor of Queensland issue a writ to proceed with an by-election on 3 February. |
| 16 December 1995 | The Labor Party replaced its candidate, incumbent member Ken Davies Ken Davies Ken Davies may refer to:* Ken Davies , Australian politician* Ken Davies , American painter* Ken Davies , Canadian hockey player* Ken Davies, 1993 winner of the Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship... , with the Mayor of Townsville, Tony Mooney Tony Mooney Anthony John "Tony" Mooney AM is an Australian politician and was a City Councillor of the City of Townsville, Queensland from 1977 to 2008, and the Mayor from 1989 to 2008.-Overview:... . |
| 10 January 1996 | Davies announced his candidature as an independent, after weeks of speculation. |
| 12 January 1996 | Close of nominations and draw of ballot papers, with a record 12 candidates contesting the poll. |
| 3 February 1996 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
Results
It was clear on election night counting that Frank Tanti had won the seat, leading Tony Mooney by 813 votes and capturing an estimated 52% of the two-party vote, although with almost 15% of votes remaining to be counted. The Liberals were sufficiently confident to declare victory on the night, with Goss admitting Labor had probably lost the race. A startled Tanti told media on the night, "They outspent us seven to one, they've taken the people for granted as usual, they don't listen, they haven't learnt a damn thing and I'm proud to be part of history." The official result was declared later the same week.Aftermath
The loss of Mundingburra deprived the Labor government of Wayne GossWayne Goss
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996.-Early life:He was born at Mundubbera, Queensland and educated at Inala High School and the University of Queensland...
of what had previously been a one seat majority. The election of Liberal candidate Frank Tanti produced a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
with Labor holding 44 seats, the National-Liberal coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
holding 44 seats, and the balance of power held by the sole 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...
Liz Cunningham
Liz Cunningham
Elizabeth Anne "Liz" Cunningham is an Australian politician. She has been an independent member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 1995, representing the electorate of Gladstone...
.
On 12 February 1996—nine days after the Mundingburra by-election—Cunningham announced her support for the National-Liberal coalition. Facing certain defeat on the floor of parliament, Goss resigned his commission on 20 February, and National Party leader Rob Borbidge
Rob Borbidge
Robert Edward Borbidge AO , Australian politician, was the 35th Premier of Queensland, and leader of the Queensland branch of the National Party...
was sworn in as the new Premier of Queensland.
The seat returned to Labor at the 1998 state election, when Lindy Nelson-Carr
Lindy Nelson-Carr
Lindel Helena "Lindy" Nelson-Carr , an Australian Politician, has been the Queensland Government Minister for Communities, Disability Services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Partnerships, Multicultural Affairs, Seniors and Youth since September 2007 and has been the State Member for...
won against Tanti on a 6.7% swing.