2022 election results show wipeout for Liberal party in Sydney waterfront suburbs

The 2022 election has not been kind to the Liberal party with a map showing a wipeout in one key area that could spell doom for the party.

Counting for the federal election is close to being finalised with the results for only a couple of seats still unclear.

Labor has secured 75 seats, according to The Australian, and is likely to win one more, which will give it the seats necessary to form a majority government.

Labor is likely to win the seat of Macnamara in Victoria, and Gilmore in New South Wales remains in doubt, although the Liberals are ahead.

The Liberal Party has been reduced to 48 seats, and the Nationals have 10 seats for a total of 58 for the Coalition.

The election result has seen the Liberals stripped of seats in many of Sydney’s most prestigious areas.

“Just a reminder that NOT ONE Liberal seat has a view of Sydney Harbour,” actor Rhys Muldoon tweeted.

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The 2022 result is devastating for the Liberals, as teal independents took many blue-ribbon seats including North Sydney, Mackellar and Wentworth in Sydney, as well as Kooyong and Goldstein in Melbourne.

Wentworth takes in some of the most exclusive real estate in Sydney, including waterfront suburbs of Watsons Bay, Bondi and Double Bay, while North Sydney includes suburbs like Neutral Bay, Kirribilli, Hunters Hill and McMahons Point.

Residents in some of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs such as McMahons Point have turned against the Liberal party.

The Liberals had already lost the seat of Warringah, which includes Manly and Mosman, to Independent Zali Steggall in 2019.

Experts warn it won’t be easy for the Liberals to regain the seats, as independents tend to hang on once elected, as can be seen with Ms Steggall in Warringah and Helen Haines in Indi.

The Daily Telegraph reported today that Liberals hope to woo former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian into running in North Sydney next election, as forming government would be almost impossible without regaining some of its blue-ribbon seats.

Labor also managed to flip Sydney seats that line the Parramatta River, including Bennelong, in the city’s north that was once held by former prime minister John Howard, and the seat of Reid, which includes areas in the inner west like Drummoyne.

The Australian Electoral Commission is expected to begin the official declaration of seats mid-this week. It only does this once it becomes mathematically impossible for any other candidate to win.

“In a number of seats, the margins are so thin that the AEC will need to wait until we have received and counted all allowable postal votes before distributing preferences and declaring a result,” Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said.

The AEC can receive postal votes until the close of business next Friday, 3 June.

Originally published as 2022 election results show wipeout for Liberal party in Sydney waterfront suburbs