Adele Carles

Adele Simone Carles (born 19 February 1968) is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 2009 to 2013, representing the electorate of Fremantle. She was initially elected as a Greens WA member, and was the first Greens MP to be elected to the Legislative Assembly. However, she resigned from the party on 6 May 2010 to sit as an independent. In November 2010, Carles agreed to guarantee confidence and supply votes for the incumbent Colin Barnett Liberal minority government.^[2][3] She ran for re-election as an independent at the 2013 state election, but was defeated, finishing fourth behind the Labor, Liberal and Greens candidates with 5.49% of the vote.

2008 state election

Carles, a solicitor before entering politics, was defeated in the 2008 state election. She polled 27.6% of the vote against Labor Attorney-General Jim McGinty (38.7%), marginally less than Liberal candidate Brian Christie (30.2%).^[4]

2009 Fremantle by-election

In 2009, Carles was preselected by Greens WA to run again in Fremantle in a by-election following the retirement of Jim McGinty. With the Liberal Party not contesting the election, Carles was rated a chance of becoming only the second Greens candidate to be elected to a lower house of Parliament from a single member electorate, after Michael Organ in the NSW federal Division of Cunningham from 2002-2004.^[5]

Carles won the seat with 44.06% of the primary vote, ahead of the ALP's candidate and former Fremantle Mayor, Peter Tagliaferri, as well as receiving enough preferences from other candidates to gain an absolute majority of ballots cast.^[6] This was the highest primary vote result for the Greens in a state or federal election in Australia, and the first time the Greens had outpolled all other parties on their primary vote. Their previous record vote was 38.96% in the 2005 Marrickville by-election in New South Wales (also not contested by the Liberals).

Buswell affair

In April 2010, Carles publicly acknowledged that Liberal Treasurer Troy Buswell and herself had been engaged in a "mutual, albeit stupid" affair that lasted several months.^[7] Carles had previously denied the affair despite persistent rumours, claiming to be a victim of a Labor party smear campaign.^[8]

On 6 May 2010, she resigned from the Greens to sit as an independent.^[9]

In December 2012, Troy Buswell launched a $3 million defamation case against Carles in relation to allegations and counter-claims both made about Buswell's alleged lewd and drunken behaviour at the home of property developer Nigel Satterley in December 2011.^[10][11]

At the 9 March 2013 state election Carles was defeated by Labor's Simone McGurk.^[12]

References

General

Inline

External links

• Adele Carles’s Blog