1996 Mundingburra state by-election
On 8 December 1995, Ambrose determined that no breach of the Electoral Act had occurred, but the closeness of the result together with the issue of the 22 military votes meant that the election should be voided and re-run.He said the date would give voters the "shortest campaign possible and the earliest opportunity" to make their choice, acknowledging that the 1995 result was "a kick in the pants", but insisting the Government had learned its lesson.Goss told the Sunday program that he felt "there's a bit of an 'It's Time' factor developing" for Prime Minister Paul Keating, and that if he was to lose the poll, "I'll accept the responsibility for that and it won't be any southern politician who's been here."[10] Meanwhile, Liberal campaign director Jim Barron believed federal Opposition Leader John Howard had "got enough on his plate anyway" and that there was "[no] necessity to bring in other key political figures from outside the State.[6][8] On 15 December 1995, the party's administrative committee met for 21⁄2 hours and resolved not to preselect Davies as its candidate for the election,[13] and a day later approved the nomination of the long-serving Mayor of the City of Townsville, Tony Mooney.The following week, the Greens, who had polled 11.5% of the vote at the 1995 election, had suggested they may not preference Mooney due to his pro-development stance and previous clashes with the environmental movement, especially over the Nelly Bay resort development on Magnetic Island,[16] and Davies, who was directing all calls to the Sydney promoter Harry M. Miller, announced that he had a story that would "rock the Goss Government" when it was told.[23][24] Labor fought back by leaking details of how Davies had hired his wife as an electoral secretary while in Parliament, and Goss indicated that he would consider approaching the Governor for fresh elections if Tanti won.[31] Professor Wanna later commented that "with Labor in disarray, no amount of money, campaign tactics or flying visits could repair the damage."[8] A political commentator based in Townsville told the Sydney Morning Herald that the electoral roll had changed by about 30% since July, due to a lot of movement by public servants and the army, and that some new residents did not qualify to vote as they had arrived too late to enrol.[36] Facing certain defeat on the floor of parliament, Goss resigned his commission on 19 February,[37] and National Party leader Rob Borbidge was sworn in as the new Premier of Queensland.