North Shore Hospital, Ruff was a late entrant into the 2015 New South Wales state election for the North Shore state seat, and despite little financial resources and facing veteran Liberal incumbent Jillian Skinner, Ruff still managed a vote in excess of 10 percent. Regarding the North Sydney by-election, Mack stated "I've never seen an election where a Liberal candidate is so disliked by such a lot of Liberal members and Liberal voters". Leaked emails showed potential voters were sent registration forms at 7:30 pm on a Thursday and asked to signal their availability, with the cut-off for replying by noon the next day, and additionally, advance notice of the email and cut-off was provided to Liberal candidate Trent Zimmerman's backers. It was claimed up to 550 Liberal branch members were unable to vote after the Liberal state executive pushed through a shortened pre-selection process to select Zimmerman, who was also head of the body that sets the rules for Liberal pre-selections, which has been claimed as a "complete conflict of interest". Mack also claimed that much of the electorate was angered that the outgoing Joe Hockey, who penned the "age of entitlement" speech, had forced a $1-million by-election within a year of the 2016 federal election, with the expectation of becoming the next Ambassador of Australia to the United States. Ruff was ultimately unsuccessful, coming second to Zimmerman with a 19 percent primary and 40 percent two-candidate vote. It was only the second time in the seat's history that the successful Liberal candidate did not obtain a majority of the primary vote, having to rely on preferences after a larger than predicted double-digit primary vote swing. Health and death In 2016 it was reported that Mack had commenced treatment for brain cancers following the discovery of multiple small tumours in his brain. Mack informed the media that the diagnosis was terminal. The inaugural Ted Mack Oration was hosted by North Sydney Council and delivered in March 2017 by Elizabeth Farrelly, a Sydney Morning Herald columnist and architecture academic at the University of New South Wales. Mack died after a stroke on 6 November 2018. On the first anniversary of his death on 6 November 2019, the Mayor of North Sydney, Jilly Gibson, officially renamed the park next to North Sydney Council Chambers as "Ted Mack Civic Park". References Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian