2025 Port Macquarie state by-election
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15 March 2025
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Electoral district of Port Macquarie in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 63,320 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2025 Port Macquarie state by-election was held on 15 March 2025 to elect the member for Port Macquarie in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, following the resignation of Liberal Party MP Leslie Williams.[1] Liberal candidate Robert Dwyer declared victory over Nationals candidate Sean Gleeson on 17 March 2025.[2]
Seat details
Port Macquarie was created in 1988 following a redistribution with the majority of the seat being inherited from Oxley. Throughout the history of the Mid North Coast region, like the rest of northern New South Wales, has been a stronghold of support for conservative parties. The seat was held by the National Party until 2002, when sitting member Rob Oakeshott left the party to become an independent.[3] Oakeshott resigned in 2008 to successfully enter federal politics at the Lyne by-election, and was succeeded by independent Peter Besseling at the 2008 Port Macquarie state by-election.[4]
Besseling lost his seat at the 2011 state election to Nationals candidate Leslie Williams.[5] Williams was re-elected in 2015 and 2019, increasing her primary vote on both occasions.[6]
On 20 September 2020, Williams left the Nationals to join the Liberal Party, citing the "reckless and unreasonable behaviour" of Nationals leader John Barilaro in threatening to end the Coalition and move the party to the crossbench due to a disagreement over koala protections.[7] The Nationals contested Port Macquarie at the 2023 state election, but Williams retained the seat for the Liberals with a two-candidate-preferred vote of 60.8%.[8][9]
Resignation of Leslie Williams
On 22 January 2025, Williams announced that she would resign from parliament.[10] She said she made the decision in order to be closer to her family in Western Australia after the death of her husband, Don Williams, in 2022.[11][12] Her resignation officially came into effect on 31 January 2025.[13]
Key events
- 31 January 2025 − Williams resigns
- 10 February 2025 − Postal vote applications open
- 21 February 2025 − Close of electoral rol
- 21 February 2025 − Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
- 27 February 2025 – Candidate nominations close
- 28 February 2025 − Declaration of nominations
- 8 March 2025 − Early voting begins
- 15 March 2025 − Polling day
- 2 April 2025 − Declaration of final results
Candidates
Candidates are listed in the order they appeared on the ballot.
| Party | Candidate | Background | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | Sean Gleeson | Beef cattle farmer[14] | |
| Liberal | Robert Dwyer | General manager of Laurieton United Services Club and Kew Country Club[15] | |
| Libertarian | Breelin Coetzer | Candidate for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council in 2024[16][17][18] | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Megan Mathew | [19] | |
| Greens | Stuart Watson | 2023 state election and 2024 local elections candidate[20] | |
| Independent | Warwick Yonge | General practitioner and former National Party candidate for this election[21] | |
Liberal
On 8 February 2025, Laurieton United Services Club and Kew Country Club general manager Robert Dwyer defeated real estate agent Luke Hadfield to win Liberal Party preselection.[22]
National
On 9 February 2025, general practitioner Warwick Yonge was preselected by the Nationals as their candidate for the by-election.[23] Three days later on 12 February 2025, the Nationals' Central Executive refused to endorse his candidacy without providing a public explanation.[24] Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said Yonge had never been officially endorsed, and "further issues came to light" which made it "untenable from the perspective of Central Executive to actually endorse him as a candidate".[25]
On 19 February 2025, beef cattle farmer Sean Gleeson was selected as the party's replacement candidate.[14] Yonge announced on 27 February 2025 that he would contest the by-election as an independent.[21]
Labor
Labor has traditionally polled poorly in Port Macquarie, only recording more that 40% of the two-party-preferred vote on one occasion (2003) since the seat was created in 1988, and the party chose not to contest the by-election.[26]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Robert Dwyer | 18,752 | 36.2 | −3.3 | |
| National | Sean Gleeson | 16,101 | 31.1 | +5.5 | |
| Independent | Warwick Yonge | 6,370 | 12.3 | +12.3 | |
| Greens | Stuart Watson | 5,184 | 10.0 | +3.5 | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Megan Mathew | 3,695 | 7.1 | +3.0 | |
| Libertarian | Breelin Coetzer | 1,712 | 3.3 | +2.1 | |
| Total formal votes | 51,814 | 96.5 | −0.6 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,858 | 3.5 | +0.6 | ||
| Turnout | 53,672 | 84.8 | −5.1 | ||
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Liberal | Robert Dwyer | 22,273 | 53.5 | −7.3 | |
| National | Sean Gleeson | 19,387 | 46.5 | +7.3 | |
| Liberal hold | Swing | −7.3 | |||
By polling place
| Polling place | Primary vote | 2CP vote | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIB | NAT | IND | GRN | LCA | LBT | LIB | NAT | |
| Bonny Hills Hall | 41.3% | 27.1% | 9.8% | 12.1% | 6.6% | 3.1% | 59.9% | 40.1% |
| Camden Haven High | 44.9% | 26.6% | 11.2% | 7.4% | 6.1% | 3.8% | 60.6% | 39.4% |
| Coopernook Arts Hall | 15.0% | 57.0% | 10.8% | 6.5% | 7.0% | 3.2% | 21.3% | 78.7% |
| Dunbogan Jubilee Hall | 54.2% | 16.4% | 7.6% | 14.1% | 6.5% | 1.3% | 74.5% | 25.5% |
| Emerald Downs Comm Cntr | 36.7% | 31.0% | 12.4% | 9.9% | 8.0% | 2.0% | 54.0% | 46.0% |
| Grace Church Port Macquarie | 27.4% | 30.0% | 12.7% | 10.0% | 10.0% | 10.0% | 47.3% | 52.7% |
| Hannam Vale Public | 26.5% | 45.4% | 4.9% | 13.0% | 5.9% | 4.3% | 37.0% | 63.0% |
| Harrington Hall | 31.6% | 43.1% | 9.0% | 4.9% | 7.2% | 4.1% | 41.5% | 58.5% |
| Hastings Public | 27.9% | 22.1% | 19.4% | 16.3% | 11.2% | 3.2% | 56.2% | 43.8% |
| Johns River Hall | 26.0% | 42.8% | 8.8% | 10.7% | 9.8% | 1.9% | 42.4% | 57.6% |
| Kendall Comm Cntr | 40.7% | 23.0% | 9.3% | 11.4% | 8.8% | 6.8% | 61.7% | 38.3% |
| Lake Cathie Hall | 31.5% | 34.2% | 11.6% | 11.5% | 7.0% | 4.2% | 49.3% | 50.7% |
| Laurieton Arts Hall | 42.4% | 25.9% | 8.1% | 11.2% | 9.2% | 3.2% | 61.5% | 38.5% |
| Lord Howe Island Comm Hall | ||||||||
| Lorne Rec Cntr | ||||||||
| Moorland Hall | ||||||||
| Nth Haven Public | ||||||||
| Nth Shore RFS | ||||||||
| Port Mac Art and Craft Cntr | ||||||||
| Port Mac Lions Club | ||||||||
| Port Mac PCYC | ||||||||
| Port Mac Public | ||||||||
| Port Mac Sea Scout Hall | ||||||||
| St Columba School Port Mac | ||||||||
| St Josephs Regional Cllg Port Mac | ||||||||
| St Peter The Fisherman | ||||||||
| Tacking Pt Public | ||||||||
| Declared facility | ||||||||
| North Haven EVC | ||||||||
| Port Mac Central EVC | ||||||||
| Port Mac EM Office | ||||||||
| Port Mac EVC | ||||||||
| Port Mac West EVC | ||||||||
| Adelaide (SA) | ||||||||
| Sydney EVC | ||||||||
| Hobart (TAS) | 80.0% | 0.0% | 10.0% | 0.0% | 10.0% | 0.0% | 100% | 0.0% |
| Technology assisted voting (TAV) | ||||||||
| Melbourne (VIC) | 25.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 25.0% | 50.0% | 0.0% | 100% | 0.0% |
| Enrolment/Provisional | ||||||||
| Postal votes | ||||||||