# 2017 New England by-election

A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of New England was held on 2 December 2017.
Previous incumbent Barnaby Joyce, serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader from February 2016 until October 2017 when his seat of New England was declared vacant, won the by-election with a large primary and two-party swing.

## Background

Amid the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis, the trigger for the by-election was the judgment of the High Court of Australia sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns on 27 October 2017, which found that the sitting member, Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, was ineligible under Section 44 of the Constitution to sit in the Parliament of Australia, by virtue of holding New Zealand citizenship at the time of his nomination and election. The seat was declared vacant by the High Court on the same day. Joyce had renounced his dual citizenship effective from August in order to become a sole citizen of Australia, and was thus eligible to run for the by-election.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Tony Smith issued the writ for the election on 27 October 2017, the same day as the High Court's judgment.

## Key dates

* Friday 27 October 2017 – Previous election ruled void
* Friday 27 October 2017 – Issue of writ
* Friday 3 November 2017 – Close of electoral rolls (8pm)
* Thursday 9 November 2017 – Close of nominations (12 noon)
* Friday 10 November 2017 – Declaration of nominations (12 noon)
* Tuesday 14 November 2017 – Start of early voting
* Saturday 2 December 2017 – Polling day (8am to 6pm)
* Friday 15 December 2017 – Last day for receipt of postal votes
* Sunday 4 February 2018 – Last day for return of writ
As at least 33 days must elapse between the issue of a writ and the date of a by-election, the earliest Saturday that the by-election could take place was on 2 December.

## Candidates

Former independent member for New England Tony Windsor, who retired at the 2013 election before unsuccessfully contesting the seat at the 2016 election with a 29.2 percent primary vote, announced he would not be nominating as a candidate in the by-election. Pauline Hanson's One Nation and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers also announced that they would not run.
17 candidates in ballot paper order :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Christian Democrats | Richard Stretton | Self-employed plant mechanic and perennial candidate. |
| Animal Justice | Skyla Wagstaff | Environmental and animal rights activist. |
| Affordable Housing | Andrew Potts | Former Sydney Star Observer contributor and party founder. |
| Independent | Jeff Madden | Single father, part-time truck driver and traffic controller. |
| Liberal Democrat | Tristam Smyth | Cardiologist based in Tamworth. |
| Independent | Dean Carter | Tamworth resident. |
| National | Barnaby Joyce | New England MP 2013–2017, Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister 2016–2017. |
| #Sustainable | William Bourke | Party founder and perennial candidate. |
| Seniors United | Warwick Stacey | Former business owner and Army Reservist. |
| Independent | Rob Taber | Independent Bennelong candidate in 2016. New England Solar Owner and Jobs Australia Chairman. |
| CountryMinded | Pete Mailler | Local cattle and grain farmer, CountryMinded co-founder. Queensland Senate candidate in 2016. |
| Labor | David Ewings | Local coal miner and Australian Defence Force personnel. Labor's New England candidate in 2016. |
| Rise Up | Donald Cranney | Farmer based in south-central Queensland. |
| Greens | Peter Wills | Quirindi farmer and Liverpool Plains Alliance campaigner. |
| 21st Century | Jamie McIntyre | Entrepreneur, banned from corporate directorships for 10 years by for property spruiking |
| Science | Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow | Adviser to nutritional infant formula startup company and bio-hacker. |
| Country | Ian Britza | Former Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. |

## Results

2017 New England by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | National | Barnaby Joyce | 57,016 | 64.92 | +12.63 |
| | Labor | David Ewings | 9,764 | 11.12 | +4.11 |
| | Independent | Rob Taber | 5,959 | 6.79 | +3.99 |
| | Greens | Peter Wills | 3,824 | 4.35 | +1.43 |
| | Christian Democrats | Richard Stretton | 2,129 | 2.42 | +1.03 |
| | CountryMinded | Pete Mailler | 2,112 | 2.40 | +0.99 |
| | Science | Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow | 1,183 | 1.35 | +1.35 |
| | Independent | Jeff Madden | 1,145 | 1.30 | +1.30 |
| | Animal Justice | Skyla Wagstaff | 930 | 1.06 | +1.06 |
| | Sustainable Australia | William Bourke | 628 | 0.72 | +0.72 |
| | Affordable Housing | Andrew Potts | 605 | 0.69 | +0.69 |
| | Independent | Dean Carter | 590 | 0.67 | +0.67 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Tristam Smyth | 515 | 0.59 | −0.62 |
| | Country | Ian Britza | 494 | 0.56 | +0.56 |
| | Rise Up Australia | Donald Cranney | 365 | 0.42 | +0.42 |
| | Seniors United | Warwick Stacey | 342 | 0.39 | +0.39 |
| | 21st Century | Jamie McIntyre | 222 | 0.25 | +0.25 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 87,823 | 91.06 | −1.90 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 8,618 | 8.94 | +1.90 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 96,441 | 87.13 | −6.14 |
| Two-party-preferred result ||||||
| | National | Barnaby Joyce | 64,664 | 73.63 | +7.21 |
| | Labor | David Ewings | 23,159 | 26.37 | −7.21 |
| | National hold | National hold | Swing | +7.21 | |
Early in the evening, ABC election analyst Antony Green predicted an easy victory for Joyce. Claiming victory that evening, Joyce picked up a large primary and two-party swing.