| Country: | New South Wales |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Election Date: | 8 September 2018 |
| Image1: | Joe McGirr 2018 (cropped).jpg |
| Candidate1: | Joe McGirr |
| Party1: | Independent politician |
| Popular Vote1: | 12,003 |
| Percentage1: | 25.4% |
| Swing1: | 25.4pp |
| Candidate2: | Julia Ham |
| Party2: | Liberal Party of Australia |
| Popular Vote2: | 12,031 |
| Percentage2: | 25.5% |
| Swing2: | 28.3pp |
| Candidate4: | Dan Hayes |
| Party4: | Australian Labor Party |
| Popular Vote4: | 11,197 |
| Percentage4: | 23.7% |
| Swing4: | 4.4pp |
| Candidate5: | Paul Funnell |
| Party5: | Independent politician |
| Popular Vote5: | 5,028 |
| Percentage5: | 10.6% |
| Swing5: | 0.9pp |
| 1Blank: | TCP |
| 2Blank: | TCP swing |
| 1Data1: | 59.6% |
| 1Data2: | 40.4% |
| 2Data1: | 59.6pp |
| 2Data2: | 22.5pp |
| MP | |
| Before Election: | Daryl Maguire |
| Before Party: | Liberal Party of Australia |
| After Election: | Joe McGirr |
| After Party: | Independent politician |
A by-election was held in the New South Wales state electoral district of Wagga Wagga on 8 September 2018.[1] The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Daryl Maguire, a Liberal-turned-independent. Maguire resigned from Parliament the previous month after admitting to a corruption inquiry that he sought payment over a property deal.[2]
The day after the vote ABC election expert Antony Green predicted the by-election would be won by independent candidate Joe McGirr.[3] McGirr was later confirmed as the victorious candidate by the New South Wales Electoral Commission, winning 59.6% of the two-candidate preferred vote over Liberal candidate Julia Ham.[4] The Liberal primary vote plunged by more than 28% – a loss of more than half of its primary vote from 2015–resulting in the seat falling out of Liberal hands for the first time since 1957.[5] McGirr only trailed the Liberals by 28 votes on the first count, and was elected on Labor preferences.
The by-election came two weeks after two federal Liberal leadership spills on 21 and 24 August, which resulted in the removal of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The massive primary vote swing against the Liberals was put down to fallout from the spills.[6] The swing against the Liberals was actually large enough to make this long-standing conservative bastion a notional Labor seat in a "traditional" two-party-preferred contest between the Liberals and Labor for the first time in over 60 years.
The Nationals elected not to field a candidate, following considerable debate between the two Coalition partners.[7] Although Wagga Wagga had been held by the Liberals without interruption since 1957, a number of Nationals believed Wagga Wagga was naturally a National seat.[8] It is located within an area that has long been considered National heartland, and is mostly served by the safe federal National seat of Riverina. At the time, every state electorate held by the Coalition in regional and rural New South Wales (other than on the South Coast) was held by a National MP, the only exception being Albury (currently both Albury and Port Macquarie are held by the Liberal Party).
| Candidates (in order they appear on ballot)[9] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | width=70% | Notes (not on ballot paper) | ||
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers | Seb McDonagh | Former president of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Oura brigade and an IT service desk administrator. | |||
| Liberal | Julia Ham | An early childhood teacher and consultant who runs a specialist sheep farm and was elected to the Snowy Valleys Council at the 2017 local government elections. | |||
| Independent | Joe McGirr | A doctor and associate dean with the University of Notre Dame; previously contested the seat in 2011 and recorded 30.6% of the vote. | |||
| Greens | Ray Goodlass | Former councillor on the Wagga Wagga City Council from 2008-2012; previously contested this seat, the seat of Murray and the federal Division of Riverina. | |||
| Christian Democrats | Tom Arentz | Has worked as a carpenter, builder, foreman, senior estimator and project manager. | |||
| Independent | Paul Funnell | Former manager of an IGA supermarket, re-elected member of the Wagga Wagga City Council in 2016. | |||
| Dan Hayes | A practising psychologist who was the Labor candidate for the seat at the 2015 state election and was elected to the Wagga Wagga City Council in 2016. | ||||