A Darling Range state by-election for the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legislat ...

seat of

Darling Range The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

was held on 23 June 2018 following the resignation of

Barry Urban Barry Urban (born 10 December 1968) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly representing Darling Range from March 2017 until his resignation in May 2018. Urban was elected as a member o ...

on 8 May. Won by

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

for the first time in the seat's history at the landslide 2017 state election, the Liberals regained the seat.Commentary, 2018 Darling Range by-election: Antony Green ABC
/ref>

Background

Following a large 19 percent

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refer ...

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

was the first ever

candidate to be elected to the previously safe Liberal seat of

in the seat's 64 year history at the landslide state election in March 2017. In November 2017, Urban resigned from Labor and moved to the

crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppos ...

to sit as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, after questions were raised about his academic claims and his wearing an overseas police service medal he had not been awarded. Urban was referred to the procedures and privileges committee, which in May 2018 recommended his expulsion from the Legislative Assembly for

contempt of parliament In countries with a parliamentary system of government, contempt of Parliament is the offence of obstructing the legislature in the carrying out of its functions, or of hindering any legislator in the performance of his duties. Typology The co ...

and misleading the House. Urban resigned immediately after the committee's report was released. Labor originally selected Colleen Yates as its candidate for the by-election. However, on 24 May 2018, Yates announced that she would withdraw from the race, after reporters discovered that she had incorrectly claimed multiple university degrees which she had never obtained on her LinkedIn profile.Colleen Yates resigns as Labor Darling Range by-election candidate after Barry Urban scandal
/ref>

Candidates

Polling

Results

Ninety-two minutes after polling booths closed, the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst. Early years and background Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gr ...

called the by-election for the Liberals.

References

External links