Federal election 2019 results: Barker electorate | Pasin gets huge swing in Liberal citadel

Liberal MP Tony Pasin secured an extraordinary swing in his safe seat of Barker.

Paula Thompson

less than 2 min read

May 19, 2019 - 12:01AM

Sunday Mail (SA)

The incumbent Liberal MP for Barker, Tony Pasin. Picture: Gary Ramage

Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.

South-East Liberal MP Tony Pasin last night claimed a landslide win in Barker.

It will be Mr Pasin’s third term in government, after first being elected in 2013.

However, he said last night’s huge swing of 13.7 per cent in the safe rural seat even exceeded his expectations.

“It’s a credit to the hundreds of volunteers who have dedicated themselves to the campaign,” he said.

By 10pm last night, Mr Pasin had 67 per cent of the vote, compared to Labor’s Mat O’Brien on 32 per cent.

Mr Pasin said he was not surprised the Coalition were poised to stage an upset.

“I became increasingly confident over the course of the campaign,” he said.

“The people of Australia decided a high taxing, high spending government that would put jobs in jeopardy was not worth the risk.”

Earlier Mr Pasin visited polling booths at Mt Gambier, Millicent and Port Macdonnell, where he said he received an “incredibly positive” response.

Mr Pasin said job security, phone and road connectivity, and forestry were big issues in the electorate.