Clark recount: Vica Bayley elected in Clark recount
Long-time environmental campaigner Vica Bayley has been elected as the new Greens member for the state electorate of Clark.
Tasmania
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Long-time environmental campaigner Vica Bayley has been elected as the new Greens member for the state electorate of Clark.
The Tasmanian Electoral Commission declared Mr Bayley the winner out of ten candidates from the 2021 election who nominated to be considered.
He emerged victorious with 53.6 per cent of the redistributed votes over fellow Green candidate Bec Taylor, who finished with 46.4.
Former speaker of the House of Assembly Sue Hickey was third.
Mr Bayley will take his seat when Parliament resumes next week.
david.killick@news.com.au
Clark recount: Vica Bayley leads race to replace Cassy O’Connor
July 30: Prominent environmental campaigner, Vica Bayley, is leading the race to become Tasmania’s newest MP, following former Greens leader Cassy O’Connor’s resignation.
The battle for the House of Assembly seat of Clark is widely expected to be won by Mr Bayley, who previously served as the head of the Wilderness Society and stood as a Greens candidate at the 2021 state election.
The Tasmanian Electoral Commission (TEC) began the recount about 12pm on Monday.
Ten of the candidates who stood for the seat in 2021 have nominated to be included in the recount.
TEC officials have started throwing Ms O’Connor’s 10,626 ballot papers to the candidates, with the individual who receives the majority of these to be elected as her replacement.
As at 4.30pm on Monday, Mr Bayley had 37.6 per cent of the vote, followed by Bec Taylor with 27.4 per cent, Tim Smith with 10.6 per cent, and Sue Hickey with 10.4 per cent.
Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Andrew Hawkey said the other six candidates had each garnered less than 4 per cent of the vote and that Lorraine Bennett had now been excluded from the count (0.3 per cent).
“Further exclusions will occur until a candidate receives 50 per cent of the vote,” he said on Monday afternoon.
“As it is likely that up to eight exclusions will need to occur, an outcome is not expected tonight.”
Government minister Felix Ellis said that he “always welcomed new members of parliament” and he hoped that whoever was named Ms O’Connor’s replacement “will be less anti-everything than … [their] predecessor”.
Deputy Labor Leader Anita Dow wished the new member “all the very best”.
“We’re looking forward to getting back to parliament next week with a number of things that we want to hold the government to account about,” she said. “And it’s very interesting times in Tasmanian politics right now with a minority government.”
“So I wish them well and look forward to seeing them next week.”
Candidates revealed: Race begins to fill Clark seat
July 31, 1:30pm
The race is on to fill the vacancy in the House of Assembly left by former Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission (TEC) officially beginning the recount process.
The battle for the southern electorate of Clark is widely expected to be won by Greens candidate Vica Bayley, the former head of the Wilderness Society.
The TEC began the recount about 12pm on Monday. A further update on progress is expected later in the day.
Ten of the candidates who stood for the seat at the 2021 state election have nominated to be included in the recount.
They include Mr Bayley and fellow Greens candidates Tim Smith and Bec Taylor, Labor candidates Deb Carnes and Sam Mitchell, the Animal Justice Party’s Tim Westcott, and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party candidate Lorraine Bennett.
Glenorchy Deputy Mayor and former Speaker of the House of Assembly Sue Hickey, who stood as an independent in 2021 after sensationally quitting the Liberal Party in the previous term of parliament, has also put her hand up for the recount.
The other independent candidates to have nominated are Hobart councillor Mike Dutta and former Hobart councillor Jax Ewin.
Ms O’Connor’s 10,626 ballot papers will be pored over by TEC officials, as they throw the votes to the candidates. The person who receives the majority of these will be elected as her replacement.
The candidates
Vica Bayley, Greens
Tim Smith, Greens
Bec Taylor, Greens
Deb Carnes, ALP
Sam Mitchell, ALP
Tim Westcott, Animal Justice Party,
Lorraine Bennett, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
Sue Hickey, IND
Mike Dutta, IND
Jax Ewin, IND
Bayley tipped to replace O’Connor in Monday’s recount
July 31, 5am
The new member for Clark in the House of Assembly, who will replace Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, should be known today.
It is widely tipped that former Wilderness Society campaign manager Vica Bayley will replace Ms O’Connor who recently resigned after 15 years in the seat saying she “needs a break”.
Mr Bayley would join the four female sitting MPs – the Liberal’s Elise Archer and Madeleine Ogilvie, Labor’s Ella Haddad and Independent Kristie Johnston.
Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Andrew Hawkey said nominations for the recount would be known by midday and Ms O’Connor’s number two votes distributed.
“It will depend on how many nominations there are but if there is a clear winner the result should be known by 3pm but if there are lots of nominations hopefully we’ll know by the end of the day,” he said.
It is rare for a candidate to win a recount if they are not from the same political party but in 1983 former Greens leader Dr Bob Brown replaced Australian Democrat Dr Norm Sanders on a countback.
Election analyst Dr Kevin Bonham said he did not expect any upsets in the recount which had many years ago also seen an Independent replaced by a Labor candidate.
“It won’t happen this time, there’s no reason that Vica Bayley won’t win,” he said.
Dr Bonham said it was possible that the Greens would win two seats in Clark at the next election which will elect seven members in the five electorates.
On first preferences at the 2021 state election, Ms O’Connor polled 9469 votes ahead of Ms Archer with 9402.
Mr Bayley was the Greens’ second highest polling candidate with 1372 votes.
Political analyst Professor Richard Herr said Mr Bayley got “a reasonable personal vote” but would need to widen his environmental activism.
“It will depend how long the government lasts but Vica will need to lift his personal profile,” he said.
“Cassy had a good reputation for being hard working and as a leader she was a vigorous advocate in parliament.”
Dr Brown said if elected Mr Bayley would continue a tradition of environmental activists being elected in Clark, previously Denison.
“He is an environmental defender with a big social conscience as well,” he said.
“There is no heart or soul for the environment from Labor or the Greens.
“I want in (to parliament) straight after the Franklin campaign and I pursued other issues such as dying with dignity, gay law reform and Freedom of Information laws were my bill in 1991.”
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