The 2023 Warrandyte state by-election was held on 26 August 2023 to elect the next member for
Warrandyte
Warrandyte ( ) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham Local government areas of Victoria, ...
in the
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...
, following the resignation of
Liberal MP
Ryan Smith.
Background
The electoral district of Warrandyte was established in 1976 and has consistently been a safe seat for the Liberal Party except from 1982 to 1988 when it was held by
Lou Hill
Louis Joseph Hill (born 31 August 1944) is a Dutch-born Australian former - barrister, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Victorian Magistrate and currently a Nationally Accredited Mediator and recreational sailor
He was born in Utrech ...
of the Labor Party. According the
2021 Census, Warrandyte's median age is 43 with a weekly median household income of $2,134 while more than 37% of residents attaining a bachelor's degree or higher. The district is characterised by the southern banks of the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower st ...
, rolling hills, lush greenery, and pockets of bushland.
Resignation of Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith was first elected at the
2006 Victorian state election
The 2006 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 25 November 2006, was for the 56th Parliament of Victoria. Just over 3 million Victoria (state), Victorians registered to vote elected 88 members to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Legi ...
, replacing long-serving member
Phil Honeywood
Phillip Neville Honeywood (born 26 April 1960) is a former Australian politician.
Early life
Born in Sydney, he received his Higher School Certificate in 1977 and the following year was a Rotary Youth Exchange student to Gakushuin High Schoo ...
who had held the seat since the
1988 election. Smith would continue to keep Warrandyte as a safe Liberal seat barring the 2018 and 2022 elections where it became marginal following the successes of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
. Smith retained the seat at the
2022 election with a
two-party-preferred vote
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...
of 54.2%, a slight swing from the previous election where there was a swing of over 7 per cent against him. Following the election of
John Pesutto
John Pesutto (; born 5 September 1970) is an Australian politician and lawyer who has served as the member for Electoral district of Hawthorn, Hawthorn in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2022 Victorian state election, 2022, having prev ...
as leader, he was dropped from the shadow cabinet, having been a shadow minister under
Matthew Guy
Matthew Jason Guy (born 6 March 1974) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council (2006–2014) and Bullee ...
and
Michael O'Brien.
Smith announced his retirement in May 2023 after 16 years in parliament, with effect from 7 July. Smith did not tell leader
John Pesutto
John Pesutto (; born 5 September 1970) is an Australian politician and lawyer who has served as the member for Electoral district of Hawthorn, Hawthorn in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2022 Victorian state election, 2022, having prev ...
of his resignation, with Pesutto instead learning about it through the media. He said that he had “become increasingly uncomfortable with the growing negative tone of politics, both internally and more broadly,” generally interpreted as Smith’s disquiet over Pesutto’s handling of the
Moira Deeming-related leadership tensions that embroiled the Victorian Liberal Party in early and mid-2023.
Candidates
Candidates are listed in the order they will appear on the ballot.
Nominated candidates
Liberal
The Liberal Party preselected Nicole Werner to run in the by-election. Werner stood as a candidate for Box Hill in 2022.
Nicole is a former Pentecostal youth pastor and charity business developer.
Eight other candidates also nominated for the Liberal Party preselection, including:
* Andrew Conlon, councillor for the City of Manningham
The City of Manningham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and is divided into 12 suburbs, with the largest being Doncaster and Doncaster East. It comprises an area of 113 square kilometre ...
* Antonietta di Cosmo, electorate officer for Smith
* David Farrelly, candidate for Pakenham in 2022
* Maxwell Gratton, candidate for Ivanhoe
''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...
in 2006
* Jason McClintock, candidate for Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...
in 2022
* Sarah Overton, a director for professional services firm KPMG
KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...
* John Roskam
John Roskam is the former executive director and now senior fellow of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a libertarian think tank based in Melbourne, Australia.
Career
Roskam was educat ...
, former executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs
The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tank,
Political links and networking
The IPA Victoria was founded during World War II by businessmen in response to the feared growing power of ...
* Jemma Townson, former electorate officer for Katie Allen and Matthew Guy
Matthew Jason Guy (born 6 March 1974) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council (2006–2014) and Bullee ...
* Allison Troth, former electorate officer for John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...
There was also speculation that Tim Smith, the former MP for Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...
would stand for preselection but no nominations were received on the cutoff date of 7 June 2023. Other speculated candidates for included 2022 candidates Lucas Moon (Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, a city in the United States
* Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
) and Cynthia Watson ( Ringwood) as well as Caroline Inge, federal vice-president of the Liberal Party.
Labor
On 26 July 2023, it was reported that the Victorian Labor Party
The Victorian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as Victorian Labor, is the Victorian state branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The party forms the incumbent go ...
would not contest the by-election to instead focus their resources for the 2026 Victorian state election
The 2026 Victorian state election is expected to be held on 28 November 2026 to elect the 61st Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Victorian Legis ...
. In the 2022 state election, the Labor Party ran Naomi Oakley who received 33.16% of the primary vote.
Greens
Tomas Lightbody is running as the Greens' candidate in the by-election. Lightbody was elected to Manningham City Council at the age of 22 and has since been elected as Deputy Mayor of Manningham council.
Other
Maya Tesa stood as an independent. She has previously run in the Aston federal by-election where she received 7% of the primary vote and as a candidate for the LDP in Jagajaga
The Division of Jagajaga is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located in the north-eastern suburbs o ...
and the North-Eastern Metropolitan Region
North-Eastern Metropolitan Region, previously Eastern Metropolitan Region between 2006 and 2022, is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as t ...
in 2022.
Victorian Socialists candidate Colleen Bolger is calling for a rent freeze. Greg Cheesman is running with the Freedom Party of Victoria.
Family First Party
The Family First Party was a conservative political party in Australia which existed from 2002 to 2017. It was founded in South Australia where it enjoyed its greatest electoral support. Since the demise of the Australian Conservatives into w ...
candidate Richard Griffith-Jones has promised to introduce if elected legislation to ban drag queen storytime in public venues.[https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_FBK&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fnews%2Fvictoria%2Fwarrandyte-byelection-candidate-richard-griffithjones-vows-to-ban-drag-storytime-if-elected%2Fnews-story%2F596fe83b6315002b36be43d428445889&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=HIGH-Segment-7-SCORE]
Raymond Hoser
Raymond Terrence Hoser (born 1962) is an Australian snake-catcher and author.
Hoser's work on herpetology is controversial, including his advocacy of the surgical alteration of captive snakes to remove their venom glands and his self-published ...
, a Snake Catcher and Whistleblower, announced his intention to run as an independent candidate, however this did not materialise.
Historical two-party-preferred vote
Previous election results
Results
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warrandyte by-election, 2023
2023 elections in Australia
2023Warrandyte
2023 in Victoria (state)