2024 Hornsby state by-election

2024 Hornsby state by-election

19 October 2024
Electoral district of Hornsby in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Registered	61,257
Turnout	50,879 (83.06%) (8.95 pp)
First party Second party   Candidate James Wallace Tania Salitra Party Liberal Greens Popular vote 24,578 12,713 Percentage 49.93% 25.83% Swing 6.64 11.54 TCP 64.34% 35.66%
MP before election Matt Kean Liberal Elected MP James Wallace Liberal

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Hornsby on 19 October 2024, following the resignation of Liberal Party MP Matt Kean.^[1][2][3]

Background

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Liberal MP Matt Kean, who served as the state party's deputy leader and as the state's Treasurer under Premier Dominic Perrottet. He held many other ministerial roles under both Perrottet and his predecessor, Gladys Berejiklian. Kean is a member of the party's Moderate faction, and during Perrottet's tenure as Premier was regarded as the faction's de facto leader in New South Wales.^[4]

Hornsby is a blue-ribbon seat in northern Sydney, and is one of two of the original post-1927 electoral districts to have only ever been held by the Liberal Party, its predecessors or an independent, the other being Vaucluse.

Key dates

• Issue of writ – 27 September 2024
• Close of rolls – 27 September 2024
• Close of nominations – 3 October 2024
• Declaration of nominations – 4 October 2024
• Commencement of early voting – 12 October 2024
• Applications for postal voting closes – 14 October 2024
• Polling day – 19 October 2024
• Last day for the return of the writ – 8 November 2024^[5]

Previous result

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 New South Wales state election (Legislative Assembly) § Hornsby.[edit]

2023 New South Wales state election: Hornsby^[6]^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Matt Kean	23,451	43.3	−11.6
	Labor	Melissa Hoile	13,418	24.8	+4.0
	Greens	Tania Salitra	7,738	14.3	+3.3
	One Nation	Steve Busch	4,298	7.9	+4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Jeffrey Grimshaw	2,125	3.9	+3.9
	Independent	Benjamin Caswell	1,557	2.9	+2.9
	Sustainable Australia	Justin Thomas	918	1.7	+1.7
	Independent	Adrian Dignam	661	1.2	+1.2
Total formal votes			54,166	97.6	+0.1
Informal votes			1,308	2.4	−0.1
Turnout			55,474	92.0	+0.2
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Matt Kean	26,506	58.0	−8.8
	Labor	Melissa Hoile	19,163	42.0	+8.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	−8.8

Candidates

Party		Candidate	Background
	Independent	Brendan Clarke[8]	Three-time contestant for the electorate of Berowra for the Science Party and the Fusion Party.
	Greens	Tania Salitra[8]	Greens candidate for mayor of Hornsby Shire Council at the 2024 local elections and commercial photographer
	Independent	Justin Thomas[8]	Candidate for Hornsby at the 2023 state election and former corporate accountant
	Animal Justice	Sheila Millgate[9]	Psychologist
	Independent	Benjamin Caswell[10]	Former education and childcare industry worker
	Libertarian	Marc Hendrickx[8]	Geologist, author, volunteer firefighter and activist
	Liberal	James Wallace[8]	Former president of NSW Young Liberals
	One Nation	Steve Busch[8]	Bus driver and former pilot, candidate for One Nation at the 2023 state election.
	Independent	Roger Woodward[11]	Accountant and volunteer firefighter

Liberal

On 3 August 2024, the Liberal Party preselected James Wallace. Wallace's preselection was unsuccessfully contested by former Deputy Mayor of Hornsby Michael Hutchence and barrister Ishita Sethi.^[12][13]

Preselection results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Wallace	123	65.77
	Liberal	Michael Hutchence	36	19.25
	Liberal	Ishita Sethi	28	14.97
Total formal votes			187	100.00

Labor

The governing Labor Party has stated they will not contest this by-election with Premier Chris Minns stating "a swing against us would be a massive distraction".^[14]

Others

On 16 August 2024, One Nation announced their candidate as Steve Busch, who previously stood at the 2023 state election.^[15]

The Libertarian Party announced Marc Hendrickx as their candidate on 19 September 2024.^[16] The Sustainable Australia Party has preselected Justin Thomas.^[17]

Results

2024 Hornsby by-election^[18]^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Wallace	24,578	49.93	+6.64
	Greens	Tania Salitra	12,713	25.83	+11.54
	One Nation	Steve Busch	2,740	5.57	−2.36
	Independent	Brendon Clarke	2,205	4.48	+4.48
	Independent	Benjamin Caswell	1,680	3.41	+0.54
	Animal Justice	Sheila Milgate	1,616	3.28	+3.28
	Libertarian	Marc Hendrickx	1,508	3.06	−0.86
	Sustainable Australia	Justin Thomas	1,337	2.72	+1.03
	Independent	Roger Woodward	847	1.72	+1.72
Total formal votes			49,224	96.75	−0.89
Informal votes			1,655	3.25	+0.89
Turnout			50,879	83.06	−8.95
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Liberal	James Wallace	26,781	64.34	+6.30
	Greens	Tania Salitra	14,840	35.66	+35.66
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• Electoral results for the district of Hornsby
• List of New South Wales state by-elections
• 2024 Pittwater state by-election (same day election)
• 2024 Epping state by-election (same day election)

References

1. Wang, Jessica (18 June 2024). "Liberal MP Matt Kean resigns from NSW Parliament". NewsWire. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024 – via news.com.au.
2. Maddison, Max (18 June 2024). "Former Treasurer Matt Kean quits parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
3. Greg Piper, Speaker (14 August 2024). "Electoral District of Hornsby Issue of Writ". Legislative Assembly Hansard – 14 August 2024 – Proof. New South Wales: Legislative Assembly. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
4. Maddison, Max (10 September 2023). "'They made Dom premier then he switched off his phone': The moment disillusionment set in at the NSW Liberal Party". The Sydney Morning Herald. A future of fractures?. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024. The "unity deal" – an agreement struck between conservatives and moderate heavyweight Matt Kean to manufacture election-winning outcomes – has disintegrated with Perrottet's looming exit from politics.
5. "2024 Hornsby State by-election". NSW Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
6. LA First Preference: Hornsby, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
7. LA Two Candidate Preferred: Hornsby, NSW State Election Results 2023, NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
8. Green, Antony. "Hornsby By-election - NSW Election 2024". ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
9. "Sheila Millgate, Hornsby". nsw.animaljusticeparty.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
10. "About me". benjamincaswell.com. Foxglove Road, Mount Colah NSW 2079. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
11. "Roger Woodward FCA". rogerwoodwardfca.me. Bridge Road Hornsby NSW 2077. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
12. Lewis, Alexander (3 August 2024). "NSW Liberals preselect James Wallace to stand in former treasurer Matt Kean's seat of Hornsby". ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024. Former Hornsby deputy mayor Michael Hutchence came a distant second, despite being endorsed by Mr Abbott.
13. Preselection Updates [@Preselection_AU] (3 August 2024). "Wallace comfortably defeated former state treasurer Michael Hutchence and barrister Ishita Sethi in the first round" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024 – via Twitter. 123 Wallace 36 Hutchence 28 Ishta
14. Dowling, James (26 September 2024). "NSW Labor will not contest blue ribbon by-elections despite opposition woes". The Australian. Archived from the original on 26 September 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024. "We'd have to put a lot of time and effort and resources into campaigns that we would be unlikely to prevail in, and a swing against us would be a massive distraction."
15. Preselection Updates [@Preselection_AU] (16 August 2024). "Hornsby (NSW State, 8.0%):" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024 – via Twitter. One Nation have chosen former Qantas pilot Steve Busch as their candidate to succeed retiring Liberal Matt Kean at October's by-election. Busch also ran in Hornsby at last year's state election, coming in fourth with 7.9% of the vote.
16. Ruddick, John [@JohnRuddick2] (19 September 2024). "Libertarian Party will vigorously contest the Hornsby by-election on 19 Oct" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 September 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024 – via Twitter. Our superb candidate is Marc Hendrickx.
17. Preselection Updates [@Preselection_AU] (3 August 2024). "Wallace, a moderate, was Kean's preferred successor following his retirement from politics to take up a role as the head of the federal Climate Change Authority" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024 – via Twitter. So far just one other candidate has put their hand up for the by-election, Sustainable Australia's Justin Thomas.
18. "LA - Check Count Final Results - First Preference Votes - Hornsby". NSW State Election Results 2024. NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
19. "LA Check Count Final Results - Distribution of Preferences - Hornsby". NSW State Election Results 2024. NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 November 2024.