How LGBTI candidates went in the 2016 Federal Election
SOME LGBT candidates have fared better than others in the culmination of an eight week election campaign.
A number of high profile openly gay candidates running for a spot in the House of Representatives had been on the radar in the lead up to Saturday’s election, representing a variety of parties and interests.
Here are the preliminary results based on Australian Electoral Commission data.
Jason Ball ran as the Greens candidate for the Division of Higgins in Victoria, a seat that has well and truly been a Liberal stronghold in the past.
Ball campaigned against Liberal incumbent Kelly O’Dwyer, who has held the seat since 2009.
The first time candidate gained 24.78 per cent in the two candidate preferred vote, losing to O’Dwyer.
Ball took to Twitter to thank his supporters for their hard work and enthusiasm.
Be proud. You have made a difference. You have pushed us closer to a more progressive and compassionate Australia. pic.twitter.com/efn1e0RqxY
— Jason Ball (@jasonballau) July 3, 2016
Another openly gay candidate also ran in the Division of Higgins, Labor’s Carl Katter.
Katter had previously spoken about the diversity of the candidates running in this electorate.
“It’s a good reflection on our community as Higgins is a very diverse electorate,” Katter told SameSame last year.
Like Higgins, the Division of Brisbane found itself with two openly gay candidates in LNP’s Trevor Evans and Labor’s Pat O’Neill.
Evans achieved 55.51 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote, winning Brisbane and taking over from retiring LNP member Teresa Gambaro.
Evans thanked his supporters and the people of Brisbane at a campaign event on Saturday.
“The hard work starts tomorrow,” Evans said.
“I’ll be the most visible, hard working member for Brisbane that we’ve ever had.”
Pat O’Neill had previously put his full support behind marriage equality no matter the outcome of the plebiscite.
“I will always vote for marriage equality, and I will always support measures that work towards creating an inclusive Australia,” O’Neill told Sydney Morning Herald in the lead up to the election.
Jonathan Pavetto ran for the Division of Kennedy against Katter’s Australian Party founder Bob Katter.
The Liberal candidate achieved 38.3 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote, losing to incumbent Bob Katter.
Pavetto had previously stated that he would support the will of his electorate in the event of a plebiscite.
Candidate Geoffrey Winters, who was profiled recently in the Star Observer, was the Liberal candidate for the Division of Sydney.
The traditional Labor stronghold was retained by Tanya Plibersek. Winters achieved 34.59 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote.
“The reason I’m in the Liberal Party is that I’m progressive and have huge social goals, but I think the best way to get there is making sure we can afford them,” Winters said at the time.
Liberal candidate Trent Zimmerman, the current member for North Sydney, has successfully retained office.
Zimmerman achieved 63.49 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote against Labor’s Peter Hayes.
“I am really happy there was a good swing on the primary and two party preferred vote and I think that is a good reflection of how hard we have been working over the last six months in the community,” Zimmerman said on Saturday night at a party event, according to the Daily Telegraph.
In the Division of Sturt in South Australia, Labor’s Matt Loader went head-to-head with Liberal incumbent Christopher Pyne.
Loader gained 43.79 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote, losing to Pyne.
Thank you to all my volunteers and supporters. We took it to Pyne, forcing him to take notice of Sturt. Bring on 2019! #ThisisLabor
— Matt Loader (@MattLoader) July 2, 2016
The Liberal’s Tim Wilson campaigned for the Division of Goldstein in Victoria.
He won 61.86 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote against Labor’s Matthew Ross Coote.
Up there with one of the most satisfying things I've done in my life … pic.twitter.com/uTIne4fiQK
— Tim Wilson (@TimWilsonMP) July 1, 2016
Labor’s candidate for the Division of Melbourne was Sophie Ismail.
Sophie was up against Greens incumbent Adam Brandt, gaining 43.66 per cent of the two candidate vote.
Congrats to @AdamBandt on the win. Proud of our positive campaign in Melb. Huge thanks to all who got behind us! https://t.co/GNEYj2Exag
— Sophie Ismail (@ismail_sophie) July 3, 2016
All this action was just in the House of Representatives, with equally exciting LGBTI campaigns waged in the Senate.
It would have been nice if the report had actually celebrated the election of the first, second and third openly gay men to the House of Representatives regardless of the fact they were Liberals. At the end of the day all of these guys represent old school Liberal strongholds, and all had swings TOWARDS them! (and yes I do recognise that Julian Hill is the new openly gay member for Bruce for Labor).
Shouldn’t you be applauding the fact that these guys have been elected to the HoR as openly gay men, not keeping it under wraps because they’re Liberals?
I think some gay people tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to this issue. They let their pathological dislike for the Liberal Party cloud their judgement. The situation is not as they say or imagine. The fact is there are lots of gay conservatives and there are a growing number of those within the party who want equality. There is little difference in the other side – except the leaders are now forcing the issue- which Is more than they did even when la Gillard was in control.
The trouble is the ultra right faction within the party who are so ignorant they are blind to the fact that supporting the family unit is very much a conservative value as David Cameron pointed out when they put the issue through in the UK. It is just unfortunate that here the Liberals have had a very powerful ultra right wing that have had way too much influence within the party for a number of years. If we want to be a little bit more positive it is worth noting that a well known ultra right conservative and anti gay candidate on the Northern Beaches failed completely to get elected despite other shock jocks promoting him. We just have to be patient a little bit longer – change will happen and it is likely to happen soon.
Tim Wilson is deeply conservative
He doesn’t believe in group identity
What exactly does being a gay liberal mean?
I’m deeply concerned nothing will change and hopefully will make The Liberal Party seem to accept diversity
Purely propaganda
The Star Observer has overlooked two gay Labor candidates.
Julian Hill, Labor’s openly gay candidate for the Victorian seat of Bruce, was convincingly elected and in Western Australia Louise Pratt is likely to be elected to the Senate.
That makes three gay members of parliament in the House of Representatives, plus Penny Wong (ALP) Dean Smith (Lib) and hopefully Louise Pratt in the Senate.
(I’m not counting the closeted woman who took the seat after her partner retired in that NSW seat)
There were three openly gay candidates in Higgins.
Then unfortunately George, by voting the way you did, you are partly to blame for the fucked-up-ness of this country.
The labor party used same-sex marriage and thus, the happiness of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, as a political football towards the end of the last government and should be ashamed of themselves for doing so.
The Greens are the natural allies of LGBTIQ people, no matter what age they are, nor aspect of life it is they’re struggling with in this often cruel world. The Greens, through sheer common-sense consider the implications of any of their policies on all of their other policies and this can be seen clearly by our refusal to support a Malaysia ‘Solution’ to the asylum seeker issue, unlike Labor who claim to support LGBTIQ people but send very mixed messages by supporting the moving to LGBTIQ asylum seekers to a country that will persecute them. You will NEVER see this hypocrisy in Greens policy.
I as a 60 year old gay man, am very deeply embarassed and dissapointed at our political system. I have personally predicted a hung parliament a week ago.
Marriage equality will not happen now, thanks Australia! I will be dead way before gay marriage is ever allowed in Australia. One of my mates said it perfectly: “This country is totally fucked up”. I voted Labor on both the white and green ballot papers, just because it was going to be the first bill to be introduced.
Totally agree George I am a 48 year old gay man for me I am still glad to be living in a totally fucked up” wealthy country” then a fucked up poor third world country . I voted labor white paper and greens for senate. If Labor does not get in as a minority govt with cross benches they can just sit back relax and watch the shit that is about to take place with libs and the senate and then get elected easily at next election