A genuinely interesting state by-election looms in New South Wales for the Sutherland Shire seat of Miranda, with both parties to field candidates in a seat the Liberals gained from Labor at the 2011 election. It was announced yesterday that the date for the by-election would be October 19, with nominations to close on October 3. Labor will be keeping its expectations in check, given that it was their most marginal seat going into the election (0.8%) and had a Liberal margin of 21.0% coming out of it. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see the extent, if any, to which the appetite of Sydney voters for bashing Labor has slackened in the wake of the federal election.
Miranda extends from Como and Oyster Bay south through Sutherland and Miranda to Gymea Bay, being bounded by Georges River in the north and Hacking River in the south. The Liberals are strongest at Sutherland and harbourside Sylvania, while Miranda and Gymea in the electorate’s east and south have traditionally leaned to Labor. The seat has changed hands four times since its creation at the 1971 election, at which it was won by the Liberals: in 1978, when Bill Robb won it for Labor as part of that year’s “Wranslide”; in 1984, when it fell to Liberal candidate Ron Phillips; when Barry Collier won it for Labor at the 1999 election; and with the Liberals’ thumping win at the 2011 election, at which the landslide swing evident throughout the state was compounded by Collier’s retirement.
For Labor, the by-election offers the auspicious circumstance of a Liberal member drawing fatigued voters back to the polls just six weeks after a federal election for the sake of a career change. That member is Sports and Recreation Minister Graham Annesley, who was chief operating officer of the NRL before entering parliament and now seeks to return to NRL administration as chief executive of the Gold Coast Titans. Annesley tearfully told parliament last month that while he regretted causing a by-election, he had found there were “many aspects of politics that I don’t really care for”.
It was reported that the Liberal preselection would be available for Sutherland Shire mayor Kent Johns if he failed in his bid for Werriwa at the federal election, but he announced on Wednesday that he would not put himself forward. This followed soon after reports that Michael Photios, a member of the party’s state executive whose lobbying activities have been a source of controversy recently, had been working to smooth Johns’s path. Johns conceded this had “ brought the matter to a head”, but said he was equally concerned about “unclear” state laws prohibiting councillors serving as parliamentarians. Murray Trembath of the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader reports that contenders for the Liberal preselection are now likely to include “former councillors Kelly Knowles and Brett Thomas, as well as Meredith Laverty, who ran as an Independent in the last council election”.
An immediate contender for the Labor preselection was Barry Collier, who is seeking to make a comeback at the age of 63. Collier was a lawyer and former school teacher before entering parliament, and while he never rose from the back bench, he established his local popularity when the government backed down on a plan to build the Southern Freeway through the electorate, partly because it feared the prospect of Collier running as an independent. Also contesting the preselection will be Antania Monkley, a 28-year-old organiser with the Community and Public Sector Union. A ballot of branch members will be held on September 28.