A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Oxley on 8 October 1988. This was triggered by the resignation of former Labor Party leader Bill Hayden to become Governor-General.

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1988 Oxley by-election

8 October 1988

First party Second party Third party   Candidate Les Scott David Cooke Barry Hoffensetz Party Labor Liberal National Popular vote 28,427 15,853 9,876 Percentage 49.1% 27.6% 17.1% Swing 10.8 12.7 3.2 TPP 53.2% 45.9% TPP swing 11.8 45.9

MP before election Bill Hayden Labor Elected MP Les Scott Labor

Close

Both the Liberal Party and the National Party fielded candidates; the Liberal Party overtook the National Party into second place. The election was won by Labor candidate Les Scott, despite an 11.8% swing to the Liberals.

• Independent – Michael Darby. Darby had previously contested Werriwa in New South Wales in the 1974 election for the Liberal Party. He later contested Dickson in the supplementary election in 1993 as an independent, and was fifth on the Liberal ticket for the Senate in New South Wales in 2004. In 2007 he contested Dobell for the Christian Democrats.
• Independent – Otto Kuhne. Kuhne later contested McPherson in the 1990 election as an independent, and Fadden in the 1993 election as a Natural Law Party candidate.
• National Party of Australia – Barry Hoffensetz, the party's 1987 candidate.
• Liberal Party of Australia – David Cooke.
• Australian Labor Party – Les Scott, a bank officer.

• List of Australian federal by-elections