Although now a resident of Mandurah’s Dudley Park, Liberal candidate for Canning Andrew Hastie will not vote in the byelection to replace Don Randall, who died in office last month.
In a statement released on Friday evening, Mr Hastie said even though he and his family had moved into the electorate on Monday and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) had accepted his change of enrolment application, voting legislation required him to live at his new address for a month before appearing on the roll.
“As a result of retiring from the Defence Force, I moved into Dudley Park, Mandurah, with my family,” Mr Hastie said.
“Although I am enrolled to vote in Canning it is now clear, according to the legislation, that my enrolment should not have been updated until I had lived in my new residence for a month.
“On this basis, neither I, nor my wife, will vote in the Canning by-election and I will be writing to the AEC advising them of this matter.
“This is the right thing to do.”
This would mean none of the candidates from Labor, the Liberals, the Greens or Palmer United would vote as locals in the byelection.
A spokesman for the AEC said it would examine the circumstances around Mr Hastie’s enrolment in the Canning electorate.
The campaign of Labor candidate for Canning Matt Keogh has been contacted for comment.
