# 2015 South-West Coast state by-election

A by-election for the seat of South-West Coast in the Victorian Legislative Assembly was held on 31 October 2015. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Premier Denis Napthine on 3 September 2015. Former Transport Minister Terry Mulder resigned his seat representing the adjacent district of Polwarth on the same day as Napthine. The by-election for Polwarth was held on the same day.

## Candidates

11 candidates in ballot paper order :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Independent | Rodney Van De Hoef | Warrnambool engineer. |
| Liberal | Roma Britnell | Dairy farmer. Vice President of the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria. |
| Independent | Roy Reekie | Labor candidate for Warrnambool in 1999 and South-West Coast in 2002, 2006 and 2014. Narrowly lost 2002 on a 49.3 percent two-party vote. |
| Country | Jim Doukas | Shire of Moyne councillor. |
| National | Michael Neoh | Mayor of Warrnambool. |
| Independent | Pete Smith | Independent Liberal. Dairy industry executive, advisor to BlueScope Steel, AWB and Australia Post, army press officer, naval officer. |
| Greens | Thomas Campbell | Greens candidate for South-West Coast in 2014. |
| Independent | Swampy Marsh | Warrnambool dairy and chicken farmer. Subject of the 2015 film Oddball. |
| Animal Justice | Jennifer Gamble | Warrnambool nurse. Animal Justice candidate for Western Victoria Region in 2014. |
| Christians | Lillian Len | |
| Independent | Michael McCluskey | Former veterinarian. Independent candidate for South-West Coast in 2014. |
The Labor government did not contest the by-elections in the safe Liberal seats of South-West Coast and Polwarth.

## How-to-vote cards

How-to-vote cards are distributed to voters at polling stations to provide information with how the candidate suggests preferences be allocated. Candidates and parties suggesting preferences are shown in each column of the table below. Michael McCluskey ran an open card at this by-election.
| | Van De Hoef | Liberal | Reekie | Country | National | Smith | Greens | Marsh | AJP | Christians | McCluskey |
| Van de Hoef | 1 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 4 | No card | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 | |
| Liberal | 11 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 2 | No card | 8 | 11 | 10 | 3 | |
| Reekie | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | No card | 2 | 6 | 3 | 9 | |
| Country | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | No card | 11 | 2 | 9 | 2 | |
| National | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 1 | No card | 9 | 10 | 11 | 4 | |
| Smith | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | No card | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 | |
| Greens | 6 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 7 | No card | 1 | 8 | 2 | 11 | |
| Marsh | 7 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 8 | No card | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 | |
| Animal Justice | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | No card | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 | |
| Christians | 9 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 10 | No card | 10 | 7 | 8 | 1 | |
| McCluskey | 10 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 11 | No card | 3 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 1 |

## Result

2015 South-West Coast state by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Roma Britnell | 15,486 | 40.0 | −17.0 |
| | Independent | Roy Reekie | 6,512 | 16.8 | +16.8 |
| | National | Michael Neoh | 5,581 | 14.4 | +14.4 |
| | Country | Jim Doukas | 4,005 | 10.3 | +8.0 |
| | Greens | Thomas Campbell | 2,938 | 7.6 | −2.2 |
| | Independent | Swampy Marsh | 1,137 | 2.9 | +2.9 |
| | Independent Liberal | Pete Smith | 695 | 1.8 | +1.8 |
| | Independent | Rodney Van de Hoef | 677 | 1.7 | +1.7 |
| | Independent | Michael McCluskey | 616 | 1.6 | −0.0 |
| | Christians | Lillian Len | 579 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| | Animal Justice | Jennifer Gamble | 490 | 1.3 | +1.3 |
| Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 38,716 | 93.8 | −2.2 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 2,578 | 6.2 | +2.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 41,294 | 91.1 | −3.8 |
| Two-candidate-preferred result ||||||
| | Liberal | Roma Britnell | 23,455 | 60.6 | −0.4 |
| | Independent | Roy Reekie | 15,261 | 39.4 | +39.4 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | −0.4 | |
Roma Britnell retained the seat on preferences for the Liberals. Roy Reekie was second in the primary count.