Federal election 2016: Cliffhanger Herbert set for recount

THE Townsville-based seat of Herbert is almost certainly going to face a recount, with Liberal scrutineers predicting the result could come down to a handful of votes.

THE Townsville-based seat of Herbert is almost certainly going to face a recount, with Liberal scrutineers predicting the result could come down to a handful of votes.

Liberal National Party MP Ewen Jones was last night just 12 votes ahead of his Labor rival Cathy O’Toole.

Despite Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s prediction Mr Jones would hold the seat, his lead has narrowed in the past two days.

The LNP hoped Mr Jones would benefit from postal votes, which usually favour conservative parties. But Labor gained after recounts at some booths and the LNP were further hit by a poor result in counts of provisional votes where people were not correctly enrolled.

LNP senator Ian Macdonald, who has been acting as a scrutineer in Herbert, said the count could still take days to determine.

“It could be won by 20 votes either way,” Senator Macdonald said.

MP Ewen Jones.

The close result will see a full recount and possible challenges by both sides.

Herbert is the last undecided seat in the House of Representatives but there are still several final Senate seats where the result is not clear.

In Queensland, the LNP are likely to claim five Senate seats but it is not clear if they will hold their current sixth senator, Joanna Lindgren.

Some believe the fifth member on the LNP Senate ticket, Barry O’Sullivan, is not yet guaranteed of his spot in parliament.

Liberal and National MPs and senators who are still waiting to see if they have held on to their seats are unsure whether to attend a party room meeting scheduled in Canberra on Monday.

Senator Macdonald wrote to Mr Turnbull to ask him to delay the meeting, which will be the first time MPs meet after the election.

The meeting is likely to spark fiery debate over the Coalition’s poor election campaign and a push from some MPs to change a hit on high earners’ superannuation concessions, which they claim cost them votes.

It comes as Bill Shorten yesterday formally retained his job as Leader of the Opposition when no other Labor MPs challenged him for the role.

Under the Labor Party’s rules, the leadership is thrown open for a week after an election loss but no other MPs came forward to nominate for the position.

Possible leadership contenders Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen ruled themselves out before a post-election Caucus meeting a week ago.