Taiping by-election, 1999

The 1999 Taiping by-election was held on 31 July 1999 to elect the next Member of Parliament for the electorate of Taiping in the Enderronian Parliament. The by-election was triggered following the resignation of incumbent Conservative MP Daniel S. Kelly.

The by-election was won by Social Democratic Party candidate David Lui. The result was notable in that it was only the third by-election since independence at which the government of the day won a seat from the opposition.

Background
Taiping was first contested at the 1990 federal election, and was considered a fairly safe seat for the Social Democrats. In its original incarnation, it included the right-leaning North Coast as well as the left-leaning outer western suburbs of Chung'an. The 1998 redistribution removed the Chung'an portion of the electorate, making Taiping far less safe for the Social Democrats, and it was lost to the Conservative Party at the 1998 election.

Daniel S. Kelly, the new Conservative MP for Taiping, admitted in April 1999 that he had probably received illegal donations in the 1998 election campaign. He was subsequently referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which heard evidence that his campaign had accepted illegal donations from local developers, which breached electoral funding laws. On 21 June, Kelly admitted he had lied to ICAC about returning several illicit donations, and resigned hours later. He was expelled from the Conservative Party the next day.