| Country: | New South Wales |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Candidate1: | Ron Hoenig |
| Party1: | Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) |
| Popular Vote1: | 20,051 |
| Percentage1: | 58.9% |
| Swing1: | 17.7 |
| Candidate2: | Mehreen Faruqi |
| Party2: | The Greens NSW |
| Popular Vote2: | 8,122 |
| Percentage2: | 23.3% |
| Swing2: | 4.4 |
| Party3: | Australian Democrats |
| Popular Vote3: | 3,749 |
| Percentage3: | 10.8% |
| Swing3: | 10.8 |
| 1Blank: | TPP |
| 2Blank: | TPP swing |
| 1Data1: | 70.0% |
| 2Data1: | 12.9 |
| 1Data2: | 30.0% |
| 2Data2: | 30.0 |
| MP | |
| Before Election: | Kristina Keneally |
| Before Party: | Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) |
| After Election: | Ron Hoenig |
| After Party: | Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch) |
A by-election occurred for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Heffron on Saturday 25 August 2012.[1] This was triggered by the resignation of former Premier of New South Wales Kristina Keneally which she announced on 23 June 2012. Labor easily retained the seat with an increased margin. Ron Hoenig received a 60 percent primary and 70 percent two-candidate preferred vote.[2]
The by-election was held on the same day as the Northern Territory election.
| Date | Event[3] | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 July 2012 | Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[4] | |
| 23 July 2012 | Close of electoral rolls | |
| 8 August 2012 | Close of party nominations | |
| 9 August 2012 | Close of independent nominations, ballot paper order draw conducted | |
| 13 August 2012 | Early voting began | |
| 25 August 2012 | Polling day, between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm |
Labor retained the seat of Heffron at the election in March 2011 with a primary vote of 41.2 percent and a two-party-preferred vote of 57.1 percent – the sixth-safest of Labor's 20 seats won at the election of the 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The s won 33.3 percent of the primary vote in Heffron, the won 19.0 percent, the CDP won 1.9 percent, with the remaining 4.6 percent to two independent candidates. There was a 16.3 percent two-party-preferred swing away from the Liberal/National Coalition government at the November 2011 Clarence by-election. The Liberals did not contest the Heffron by-election.[5] [6] [7]
The four candidates in ballot paper order were as follows:
| Candidate nominations[8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor Party | Ron Hoenig | Longest-serving Botany Bay Mayor.[9] [10] | |||
| Christian Democratic Party | Robyn Peebles | Pastor of West Ryde Church of the Good Shepherd, state and federal serial candidate. | |||
| Australian Greens | Mehreen Faruqi | Civil/environmental engineer and sustainability expert, contested Heffron at previous election.[11] | |||
| Australian Democrats | Drew Simmons | Journalist and various positions in retail/management.[12] | |||