Stephen Mayne's complete electoral record
November 26, 2007
Stephen Mayne doesn't shy away from the fact he is Australia's most unsuccessful candidate. In fact, he's proud of that claim, because his tilts are all about changing things, not winning. Campaign Costello in the seat of Higgins was his first crack at Federal politics and below is his complete electoral record.
1. January 1988: elected President unopposed of the 12 member Doncaster Chess Club
2. December 11, 1999: by-election for Kennett's seat of Burwood, 6.7% to finish 3rd out of 5 (beat the Green)
3. May 18, 2000: AMP, last with 33.89%
4. October 23, 2000: ASX, last with 13.52%
5. October 26, 2000: Commonwealth Bank, last with 39.71%
6. November 2, 2000: WA News, last with 28.41%
7. November 9, 2000: Westfield Holdings, last with record low 0.37%
8. November 20, 2000: Telstra, 7th out of 9 with 5 incumbents re-elected
9. November 20, 2000: Woolworths, 54.74% of proxies but defeated on show of hands in a very dubious process
10. November 29, 2000: NRMA Insurance, 45.59% but still not enough
11. December 11, 2000: David Jones, last with 11.46%
12. December 14, 2000: NAB, last with 9.14%
13. February 2001: Axa Asia Pacific, last with a very bad 1.1% due to French controlling shareholding
14. July 2001: Melbourne Lord Mayor, 13th out of 19 with primary vote of 4.3%
15. October 29, 2001: ASX, last with 10.69%
16. November 1, 2001: Southern Cross Broadcasting, last with 3.85%
17. November 2, 2001: NRMA Insurance, last with 10.69%
18. November 7, 2001: John Fairfax , last with 20.58%
19. November 16, 2001: Telstra, last with 4.76% out of 11 with 5 incumbents re-elected
20. November 27, 2001: PMP, last with 11.24%, other challenger got 15.62%
21. June 2002: Melbourne Press Club committee, 17th and last
22. October 2, 2002: Copyright Agency Ltd, third out of four with top two elected
23. October 9, 2002: News Corp, last with 12.89% of proxies but line-ball from the floor
24. October 2002: RACV, 4th of 5 with 2 incumbents re-elected
25. October 29, 2002: ASX, last with 18.7%
26. May 2003: AMP, last with a very disappointing 11.41% which prompted two year retirement
27. October 14, 2005: RACV, last out of 4 (couldn't even beat my wife)
28. October 27, 2005: Gunns, last with 14.7%
29. November 18, 2005: John Fairfax, last with 7.85%
30. November 24, 2005: elected President of local kindergarten unopposed, lasted just one year
31. July 20, 2006: Macquarie Bank, last with respectible 15.49%
32. November 14, 2006: Telstra, best of the five outside candidates with 9.53%
33. November 24, 2006: Woolworths, last with 3.01%
34. November 25, 2007: Victorian election, disappointing 1.33% for People Power in upper house
35. October 19, 2007: News Corp shareholder resolution, 22.9% support for proposal to end Rupert's gerrymander
36. November 9, 2007: West Australian Newspapers, got 18% of the proxies on a platform of giving the board some media experience
37. November 24, 2007: Federal election in Higgins, 2% and finished 4th out of 8, getting more than Family First and the Democrats combined, which was a good outcome.
Breaking the figures down, Stephen has averaged about 15% of the vote in 27 public company board tilts, just over 4% in two cracks at Victorian politics and generally done okay in the not-for-profit space, especially when facing no opposition candidates such as with the chess club and the kindergarten.
However, his wonderful wife Paul Piccinini was elected to the board of Australia's biggest mutual, the RACV, in November 2006, coming first in a six-person field. The previous year Stephen and Paula both ran for the RACV and came last and second last respectively.
In terms of running to change things, Stephen pressured Steve Vizard off the Telstra board in 2000 (he quit 9 days after Stephen nominated on a platform to end his conflicts) and also claims to have helped end cash for comment as various companies (NRMA, CBA, Qantas, Optus) were told he would run every year until they stopped. Rather than have some "nutter" run for their board, they all ended their contracts with John Laws and Alan Jones.
Similarly, he ran for Gunns in 2005 on a platform that executive chairman John Gay end a 10 year election drought and submit himself for election, which he duly did the next year.
The same applied to Costello – Stephen wanted to pressure him on bank fees, pokies, honest accounting, his crazy budget ban and various other matters.
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