| Election Name: | 2018 Fremantle by-election |
| Country: | Australia |
| Type: | Parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2016 Australian federal election |
| Previous Year: | 2016 |
| Next Election: | 2019 Australian federal election |
| Next Year: | 2019 |
| Turnout: | 66.09% 22.72 |
| Registered: | 103,149 |
| Seats For Election: | The Division of Fremantle (WA) in the House of Representatives |
| Candidate1: | Josh Wilson |
| Party1: | Australian Labor Party |
| Popular Vote1: | 33,277 |
| Percentage1: | 52.62% |
| Swing1: | 11.63 |
| Candidate2: | John Gray |
| Party2: | Liberal Democrats |
| Popular Vote2: | 8,916 |
| Percentage2: | 14.10% |
| Swing2: | 14.10 |
| Candidate3: | Dorinda Cox |
| Party3: | Australian Greens |
| Popular Vote3: | 10,456 |
| Percentage3: | 16.53% |
| Swing3: | 1.21 |
| 1Blank: | 2CP |
| 1Data1: | 73.33% |
| 1Data2: | 26.67% |
| 2Blank: | 2CP change |
| 2Data1: | 15.81 |
| 2Data2: | 26.67 |
| MP | |
| Before Election: | Josh Wilson |
| Before Party: | Australian Labor Party |
| After Election: | Josh Wilson |
| After Party: | Australian Labor Party |
A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Fremantle took place on Saturday 28 July 2018, following the resignation of incumbent Labor MP Josh Wilson.[1]
In early counting, within 90 minutes of the close of polls, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's psephologist Antony Green's electoral computer had predicted Labor to retain the electorate with an increased margin.[2] This election is notable for being the first time that a Liberal Democrats candidate was included in the two-candidate-preferred counting in an Australian federal election.
The by-election occurred on the same day as four other by-elections for the House of Representatives, colloquially known as Super Saturday.
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Due to the High Court ruling against Senator Katy Gallagher on 9 May 2018 as part of the ongoing parliamentary eligibility crisis, Wilson and three other MPs in the same situation announced their parliamentary resignations later that day,[1] while the Perth incumbent resigned for family reasons.[3] The Speaker announced on 24 May 2018 that he had scheduled the by-elections to occur on 28 July 2018. Popularly labelled "Super Saturday", the occurrence of five simultaneous federal by-elections is unprecedented in Australian political history.[4] The others are:
Key dates in relation to the by-election are:[5]
| Candidates (7) in ballot paper order[6] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Background | |||
| width=3pt | Christians | Mark Staer | Contested Cannington at the 2008 state election and Gosnells at the 2013 state election.[7] | ||
| width=3pt | Greens | Dorinda Cox | Small business owner, former police officer, anti-domestic violence campaigner.[8] | ||
| Animal Justice | Katrina Love | Party's national vice president and state convenor. | |||
| width=3pt | Labor | Josh Wilson | Previous MP for Fremantle elected at the 2016 federal election.[9] | ||
| width=3pt | Liberal Democrats | John Gray | Former Navy officer, Notre Dame University law student, Starlight Children's Foundation entertainer.[10] | ||
| People | James Harfouche | Curtin University commerce student. | |||
| Independent | Jason Spanbroek | Running on an anti-Labor platform.[11] | |||
The Liberals declined to contest the Fremantle and Perth federal by-elections, but concentrated their resources on the Darling Range state by-election.[12]
| +Fremantle by-election polling | ||||||||||||
| Date | Firm | Commissioned by | Sample | Primary vote | TCP vote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALP | GRN | LDP | OTH | UND | ALP | GRN | ||||||
| 23 July 2018 | ReachTEL | Legalise Vaping Australia[13] | 692 | 49.3% | 16.0% | 17.4% | 11.2% | 6.1% | 69% | 31% | ||
| 2016 election | 41.0% | 17.7% | − | 41.3% | − | 57.5% | − | |||||