Liberal candidate Tim Wilson declares victory in Goldstein again, Zoe Daniel refusing to concede

Teal MP Zoe Daniel is refusing to concede the seat of Goldstein, despite Liberal candidate Tim Wilson declaring victory for the second time, with a slim 128 vote lead.

Teal MP Zoe Daniel is refusing to concede the seat of Goldstein, despite Liberal candidate Tim Wilson again declaring victory with a slim 128 vote lead.

In a message to supporters on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Wilson declared they had broken three Australian political records including the “first team to retake the same seat lost to an Independent MP”.

He said they were also the first team to “defeat a Teal Independent MP – ever” and the first Liberal team in “110+ years to win a seat off an Independent MP elected a general election” which had only been done once before in Gippsland in 1913.

“Unprecedented. Historic. You’re all amazing. Congratulations!”

Liberal candidate Tim Wilson celebrates last week after defeating Independent Zoe Daniel. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Asked about the result, Mr Wilson said he thanked both the Liberal and the Teal scrutineers for ensuring the vote counting process had integrity, and wished “Zoe Daniel, her family and staff all the best in their next chapter”.

“I feel an incredible sense of gratitude and appreciation to the Goldstein community for giving this great honour to represent them, and appreciation to the wonderful volunteers who have done an amazing job ensuring we have defied political history in the milestones we’ve marked, and political gravity in the context of the broader election result,” he told the Herald Sun.

Ms Daniel did not make up the ground in an update to early and postal votes on Tuesday, with Mr Wilson’s team saying this resulted in his margin falling from 176 votes to 124 votes.

Zoe Daniel celebrated what she thought was a victory on election night. Picture: Instagram/anneriggsart

In a statement, Ms Daniel confirmed the counting of first preference votes and the indicative two-candidate preferred count was now complete.

“The margin is 128 votes,” she said, adding the full distribution of preferences was yet to be completed.

“We’ve come this far and it seems prudent to allow the Australian Electoral Commission to get on with finishing the job.

“Any consideration of a recount will occur after that.”

The full distribution of preferences is expected to be completed by Thursday. If this plunges the margin below 100 votes, an automatic recount will be triggered.

Originally published as Liberal candidate Tim Wilson declares victory in Goldstein again, Zoe Daniel refusing to concede