1985 Nunawading Province state by-election

The Nunawading Province by-election of 1985 was a by-election in the Nunawading Province for the Victorian Legislative Council held on 17 August 1985. It was ordered by the Court of Disputed Returns after it found that the Chief Electoral Officer drew a name at random when the 1985 Victorian state election had resulted in a dead heat between the top two candidates. The Chief Electoral Officer had drawn the name of the ALP candidate. After the Court ordered a new election, the outcome was that the Liberal candidate Rosemary Varty was returned.

Background

In 1985, the Legislative Council consisted of 44 members. They were elected for 8-year terms from 22 two-member provinces. Half of the Council retired every four years, so each election elected one member in each province. The Nunawading Province consisted of the Victorian Legislative Assembly seats of Box Hill, Mitcham, Ringwood and Warrandyte. Lawrence Alexander McArthur was the continuing member for Nunawading Province.[1]

In the 1985 general election held on 2 March 1985, the vote ended with a dead heat after distribution of preferences from the Australian Democrats candidate.[1] The Labor candidate Bob Ives and the Liberal candidate Rosemary Varty received 54,821 votes each. The returning officer, Kathleen Leonard, was required by law to make a casting vote, which she did by drawing a name from a ballot box. The name drawn was Bob Ives and he was declared elected.[2] The Age described the result as "the most sensational electoral finish in memory". Electing Ives to the Legislative Council would give the ALP control of the house,[2] however the Court of Disputed Returns voided the result before he could take his seat.[3]

Varty disputed the result in the Court of Disputed Returns.[4] The court (Mr Justice Starke) found that there had been errors and omissions made by electoral officers, and these had not been found not to affect the result (i.e., they could have affected the outcome), and declared the election absolutely void on 25 July 1985.[5] Forty-four votes had been incorrectly excluded from the count.[1]

The court ordered a by-election[6] which was won convincingly by Liberal candidate Rosemary Varty.[7]

Controversy

On the day of the by-election, the Nuclear Disarmament Party how-to-vote cards only showed a 1 in the box for their candidate, and encouraged voters to allocate their own preferences. Members of the Labor Party were accused of orchestrating that there were other "How to vote for Nuclear Disarmament" flyers distributed that showed a full set of preferences, with NDP first and Labor 2nd.

Results
Nunawading Province by-election, 1985[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Rosemary Varty 51,006 49.2 +3.1
Labor Robert S Ives 40,578 39.2 -6.6
Democrats Michael Nardella 4,760 4.6 -3.5
Call to Australia William A Watson 2,682 2.6
Nuclear Disarmament Jennifer M Cotterell 2,530 2.4
Democratic Labor Peter A Ferwerda 1,361 1.3
Basil J Smith 438 0.4
Brian R Lumsden 204 0.2
Wilhelm Kapphan 75 0.1
Total formal votes 103,634
Informal votes 2,055 1.9
Turnout 105,689
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Rosemary Varty 52,086 50.3
Labor Robert Ives 40,818 39.4
Democrats Michael Nardella 4,947 4.8
Call to Australia William A Watson 3,120 3.0
Nuclear Disarmament Jennifer Cotterell 2,649 2.6
hold Swing
  • A full distribution of preferences was not carried out, as Varty recorded a majority after the fifth count.

References
  1. Carr, Adam. "Victoria - Legislative Council - Election of 2 March 1985". Psephos. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  2. Broadbent, David; Colebatch, Tim; Hawker, Philippa (14 March 1985). "'Raffle' gives Labor Victory". The Age. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  3. "Robert ('Bob') Stuart Ives". Re-Member (Former Members). Parliament of Victoria. 1993. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  4. Pinto, Pamela (20 June 1985). "Poll 'lottery' fairest way, official tells court". The Age. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  5. "Inaugural speech of Varty, Rosemary". Re-Member (Former Members). Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  6. Young, Leith (25 July 1985). "Judge rules court had no power to open sealed votes". The Age. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  7. Broadbent, David (19 August 1985). "Now we'll win government, says Kennett after 'stunning victory'". The Age. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
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