Liberals claim victory in Warrandyte byelection for Nicole Werner

The Liberal Party claimed victory in the Warrandyte byelection as about 150 supporters celebrated results on Saturday night.

By about 7.55pm, the party declared it had retained the seat in north-east Melbourne, based on powerful early support for candidate Nicole Werner.

Nicole Werner is congratulated by the Victorian Liberal leader John Pessuto.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

More than 23,300 votes had been counted by 9.15pm on Saturday, with a powerful 56.97 per cent of first preference votes favouring Werner. Her main challenger, Greens candidate Tomas Lightbody, had attracted 18.64 per cent of first preference votes.

On a two-party preferred basis, Werner had a 23 per cent buffer. The vote may narrow as counts continue, but the result was emphatic. Liberals were expecting the primary vote to settle in the mid-50s.

Joyous supporters corralled in the bowls club chanted Werner’s name as she walked to the podium with her husband, Fraser. “Onya Nicole!” a supporter yelled, to rapturous cheers.

Werner shared some wisdom her mother, standing tearfully behind her, had shared with her: “I want you to be a leader, and I want you to change the world.”

Of her Chinese-Malaysian migrant parents, Werner said: “My success is their success.”

Pesutto introduced Werner as “the future of this party” on Saturday night, describing her as a fighter after failing to pick up Box Hill at the November election and returning to claim Warrandyte.

“She doesn’t give up … tonight, Nicole Werner is the comeback kid. My friends, I know a thing or two about comebacks,” Pesutto said.

The Liberal leader said Victorians were sick of cost-of-living pressures, taxes, incompetence, and integrity scandals.

“The people of Warrandyte have been the voice of all Victorians tonight,” he said. “They have said loudly, enough is enough.”

After consecutive poor showings at state and federal polls and rumblings within the state parliamentary team, deputy Liberal leader David Southwick declared “a new dawn has risen for the Victorian Liberal Party”.

Party faithful were enjoying party pies, prawns, sushi and egg salad sandwiches at the Ringwood Bowls Club as they awaited Werner and Pesutto’s arrival.

Scrutineers from booths were also reporting primary votes above 50 per cent early in the count, with Liberals viewing the early resounding results as better than expected.

State Liberals Georgie Crozier, David Southwick, Brad Rowswell, Matt Bach, Ann-Marie Hermans, Wendy Lovell and Renee Heath were in attendance at the party event in Ringwood after a long campaign.

Senators James Paterson and Jane Hume, federal MP for Menzies Keith Wolahan, as well as Senate hopeful and outgoing state president Greg Mirabella, joined in the festivities. Phil Davis, a possible contender to replace Mirabella, was also in attendance.

Pesutto said earlier in the day that the Liberal Party had fought for every vote in its aim of retaining the seat of Warrandyte.

The byelection had been framed as a test for Pesutto, but Labor’s decision not to field a candidate cleared the path for Werner.

Werner succeeds former Liberal member Ryan Smith.

Werner succeeds Liberal MP Ryan Smith, who announced his resignation six months after he was re-elected at the November general election with a 4.3 per cent margin. Smith, who spent 16 years in parliament, attracted a strong 47.3 per cent primary vote.

At Ringwood North Primary School voting centre on Saturday morning, Pesutto said the campaign had been tough, with 12 candidates in the running.

“Nicole has worked so hard. She’s knocked on doors, she’s phone-canvassed, she’s held listening posts, she’s connected with the community she grew up in,” Pesutto said.

The electorate, which has been held by the Liberals since 1988, takes in the suburbs of Warrandyte, North Warrandyte, Wonga Park, Warranwood, Warrandyte South, Parkwood, Ringwood North, Donvale and parts of Doncaster East and Chirnside Park.

Voters arrive at a polling booth for the Warrandyte byelection.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Werner, 32, grew up in the nearby suburb of Blackburn North.

“No seat is safe in politics these days. I think we’ve learnt that in recent federal and state elections, you have to fight for every single vote,” Pesutto said.

“We’ve taken nothing for granted in this byelection.”

Lightbody contested the seat for the Greens and was the major challenger to the Liberals in the absence of a Labor candidate.

Greens candidate for Warrandyte Tomas Lightbody seen with the party’s Victorian leader Samantha Ratnam at East Doncaster Secondary College.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Lightbody, 25 years old and a City of Manningham councillor, nominated the cost of living as the key issue governments must address, as the minor party pushes nationally for the introduction of a rent freeze.

Pesutto also identified the cost of living and state taxes as key community concerns.

Werner will become the first female MP from an Asian background to represent the Liberal Party in state parliament.

The former youth pastor, charity worker and Liberal staffer won preselection in a hard-fought race in June against eight rivals.

Paterson, the Victorian senator, said on Saturday that Werner and her family represented “a great Australian story”.

“Nicole represents generational change and renewal in the Victorian state parliamentary party, a process that was well underway at the last state election, which continues, and represents a very bright future here in Victoria for our party.”

Frustrated by COVID-19 lockdowns, Werner joined the Liberal Party in 2020. She says she is not aligned to a faction, but has been linked to the religious right given she spent time as a youth pastor with Christian Pentecostal megachurch Planetshakers.

She previously contested the seat of Box Hill at the November state election, but suffered an 8.9 per cent drop in the primary vote and failed to take the seat.

Pesutto with Werner in June.Credit: AAP

Smith announced in May he would quit state parliament, citing a “growing negative tone of politics”. The byelection was triggered when he formally stood down in July.

Almost 20,000 people – about 40 per cent of the nearly 51,000 enrolled voters – cast early ballots.

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