2022 Fannie Bay by-election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2022 Fannie Bay by-election

 2020 20 August 2022 (2022-08-20) 2024 

The division of Fannie Bay in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
  First party Second party Third party
 
Candidate Brent Potter Ben Hosking Jonathan Parry
Party Labor Country Liberal Greens
Popular vote 1,139 1,451 699
Percentage 32.5% 41.4% 19.9%
Swing Decrease 15.7pp Increase 6.6pp Increase 9.7pp
TPP 52.6% 47.4%
TPP swing Decrease 7.0pp Increase 7.0pp

Map of the electoral division of Fannie Bay in the Darwin/Palmerston area

MLA before election

Michael Gunner
Labor

Elected MLA

Brent Potter
Labor

A by-election in the seat of Fannie Bay in the Northern Territory was held on 20 August 2022, following the resignation of Michael Gunner, the MLA for Fannie Bay and former chief minister, on 27 July 2022.[1] Early voting started on Monday 8 August.[2]

Candidates in ballot paper order[3]
Party Candidate Background
  Labor Brent Potter Former political staffer and defence force veteran[4]
  Independent George Mamouzellos
  Independent Raj Samson Rajwin
  Greens Jonathan Parry Legal Aid Lawyer
  Independent Leah Potter Founder of the Sunset Soup Kitchen
  Country Liberal Ben Hosking Small business owner and former police officer[5]

Brent Potter, a senior policy advisor to Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and defence force veteran, contested the by-election for the Labor Party.[4] Potter was reported to have been personally selected as a "captain's pick" by Fyles,[6] and is married to the sister of Gabrielle Mappas, Fyles' chief of staff.[6] Potter has been a resident of the Northern Territory since 2009.[4] Potter currently lives outside of the electorate, in the Palmerston suburb of Bellamack, but has pledged to move to the electorate of Fannie Bay if elected.[4] The length of Potter's employment as an advisor for the chief minister is unclear as Potter's LinkedIn account was deactivated.[7] Screenshots Potter's now deactivated LinkedIn page taken the month before his nomination show he had previously worked for the CEO of an aerospace company, which he had helped secure $10 million in public funds from the government.[8] On 9 August 2022, during a radio interview on Mix 104.9, host Katie Wolf raised allegations of pork barrelling around with a new Parap preschool with Potter, which he had been involved in announcing. Potter responded that the funding for the new primary school was in the government's infrastructure plan and would "be included in next year's budget".[9]

Ben Hosking, a local small business owner and former police officer contested the by-election for the Country Liberal Party.[10] Hosking was born in Darwin and grew up in the electorate of Fannie Bay, living in Ludmilla and attending school in Parap.[11] In 2016, Hosking unsuccessfully contested Drysdale (based in Palmerston) electorate for the CLP.[12] During this election, Hosking courted controversy for releasing a factually inaccurate and misleading advertisement in which he was holding an assault rifle.[13] Hosking also previously attempted to run as a candidate for the federal seat of Solomon but failed to succeed at the pre-selection stage.[14] Shortly after being announced as candidate, Hosking was filmed out the front of Michael Gunner's electoral office, which had recently been vandalised.[15]

Jonathan Parry, a legal aid lawyer, contested the by-election for the Northern Territory Greens.[16] Parry is a resident of the electorate[16] and is the party's national secretary.[17] Jonathan Parry is the only candidate who lives in the electorate, living in and owning a property in Parap.[18]

Leah Potter is the founder of the Sunset Soup Kitchen and contested the election as an independent candidate. She contested the 2020 general election as an independent candidate for the seat of Port Darwin.[19]

Results

2022 Fannie Bay by-election[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Country Liberal Ben Hosking 1,451 41.4 +6.6
Labor Brent Potter 1,139 32.5 −15.7
Greens Jonathan Parry 699 19.9 +9.7
Independent Leah Potter 103 2.9 +2.9
Independent Raj Samson Rajwin 84 2.4 +2.4
Independent George Mamouzellos 30 0.9 +0.9
Total formal votes 3,506 97.9 −0.2
Informal votes 76 2.1 +0.2
Turnout 3,582 65.9 −15.1
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Brent Potter 1,844 52.6 −7.0
Country Liberal Ben Hosking 1,662 47.4 +7.0
Labor hold Swing−7.0

See also

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI