The voters of the Western Australian seat of Canning will go to the polls for a byelection on 19 September, following the sudden death of sitting member Don Randall.
The Liberal backbencher was found dead in his car last month. It is believed the cause of death was a heart attack. He was 62 years old.
On Monday, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tony Smith, issued writs for the byelection to be held on 19 September.
Prospective voters have until Monday 24 August to get on the electoral roll. Nominations for the seat close the following Thursday, 27 August.
SAS soldier Andrew Hastie is all but confirmed as the Liberal candidate for Canning, with the prime minister, Tony Abbott, expected to launch his campaign at the party’s state conference on Saturday. Hastie, 32, was recommended by the party’s selection committee as the best of seven candidates and has the backing of senior Liberals including the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop.
Bishop publicly supported Hastie’s selection on Monday, saying he was an “outstanding candidate.”
“This is a man who has dedicated years of his life serving this country,” she said.
According to The Sunday Times, Hastie, who served in Afghanistan, wrote in his application for preselection that he would use his military experience to “defeat the security threats we face as a nation.”
He emerged as the lead candidate last week, overtaking Randall’s daughter, Tess Randall.
Bishop said he deserved to be pre-selected.
“We do choose on merit, there was quite a wide field but I am confident that Andrew Hastie will prove a most outstanding candidate in the next election and I look forward to to supporting him in whatever way I can, because the people of Canning deserve a strong representative, a strong voice as Don Randall was,” she said.
Matthew Keogh, the president of the Law Society of WA and one-time policy advisor to former Labor premier Geoff Gallop, is expected to lead the pack of Labor candidates. Nominations for ALP preselection close on Thursday and will be put to the vote by local electors at the weekend.
The Palmer United party and the Greens are also expected to stand candidates.
Clive Palmer, who said his party would announce its candidate on Friday, said the by-election “won’t change the government but a vote for Palmer United will send a message to both parties that we don’t approve of what they are doing.”
Greens leader Richard di Natale said he had yet to talk to the WA branch about candidates, but he expected there would be a “strong showing”.
Parliamentarians from both sides paid tribute to Randall when parliament resumed after its six-week winter recess earlier this month.
“Farewell, Don. You will live on in the hearts of your friends and your family, to whom we extend our deepest condolences,” the prime minister, Tony Abbott, told the House of Representatives.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, also honoured his passing, saying Randall represented his community with distinction.
“We honour his memory today, we pay tribute to his service,” he said.
Randall held the south-eastern Perth seat on a margin of 11.8%. He first won it in 2001, and held it until his death. Before winning Canning in 2001, he was the member for Swan from 1996 to 1998.
Byelections usually record a swing against the government of the day, at an average of 4% on a two-party preferred basis.
Political commentator Harry Phillips has warned the byelection could prove to be a leadership test for the prime minister.
“You would have to believe that if Labor could put forward a well-known candidate they would have to have a decent chance [of winning the seat],” Phillips said.
Western Australia remains the strongest Coalition state, but the government’s ratings have fallen to a 14-year low in the latest polls.
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