LIBERAL PARTY ELECTION PAMPHLET - FROM FORMER PM JOHN HOWARD

Pamphlets and circulars collected from the Canning By-Election in 2015, brought about by the demise of Don Randall. This letter was signed by former Australian Prime Minister John Howard as a letter of endorsement to Liberal Candidate Andrew Hastie and was mailed to people living in the electorate during the Canning by-election which was held on September 19 2015.
The Federal Division of Canning was created in 1949 and named after Alfred Canning, the Western Australian government surveyor who surveyed the Canning Stock Route in 1906. For many years the seat was primarily a rural seat that was held by either the Liberal Party of the Country Party. By the 1980s though the seat was a mixture of rural and urban, with urban populations growing around the outer metropolitan suburb of Armadale in the north of the seat and the rapidly growing coastal town of Mandurah in the south. In 2016 following a redistribution saw the suburbs of Armadale, Mount Nasura removed from the Division of Canning and joined with the suburb of Kelmscott to form the new Federal Division of Burt.
In 2015 local member Don Randall, who had held the seat since 2001 passed away suddenly. A by-election for the seat was called in July of 2015. The seat was contested by a variety of mayor and minor political parties, many focussing on local issues including the perceived local drug problem and the need to upgrade Armadale Road. The by-election was to be held on 19 September 2015. Four days before the election the Liberal Party replaced the unpopular Tony Abbot as Prime Minister with Malcolm Turnbull. Earlier that year Don Randall and Luke Simpkins (member of Cowan) had moved an unsuccessful leadership spill against Abbott. Many political commentators expected a 10%+ swing against the Liberal Party. It is thought that the leadership change played a role in minimising the swing against the Liberal Government and allowing Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie to retain the seat for the Liberal Party and the Government with a 4% swing against the Liberal Party. Some of the swing away from the Government was also attributed to the personal popularity of Don Randall. The following year a Federal election was held and Andrew Hastie retained the seat and the Liberal Party in coalition with the National Party just managed to retained government.
The Liberal Party of Australia was formed in 1944 and quickly grew to be one of the major political parties in Australia, contesting every Federal Election since 1946 and state election since 1949. Since 1949 five Liberal Party candidates have held the Division of Canning, Neil McNeill1961-1963, Mel Bungey1974-1983, Ricky Johnston 1996-1998, Don Randall 2001-2015 and Andrew Hastie2015-Present. Matthew Keogh ran unsuccessfully for the seat in the 2015 By-Election. In 2016 he ran as the Labor Candidate for the new Division of Burt and won.