New Lilley MP commits to work hard for her community
Represented by former deputy prime minister and treasurer Wayne Swan for over two decades, the Brisbane electorate of Lilley has a new member after the AEC finally confirmed the result from the recent federal election.
NEW Member for Lilley Anika Wells has expressed her gratitude to voters and said she was excited about getting to work and representing everyone in her electorate.
Ms Wells won the seat for the ALP in a close-run contest with the LNP’s Brad Carswell.
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER: GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS + JABRA WIRELESS HEADPHONES
The Australian Electoral Commission announced today that it had finalised its counting, and would hold an official event tomorrow to formalise the result.
Ms Wells narrowly won the seat after the allocation of preferences gave her 50.64 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote.
“This result has been really heartening after a really stressful couple of weeks waiting for the count to conclude,” she said today.
“We claimed victory on Monday, May 27 when Antony Green (the ABC’s election analyst) called it. It was just a process of waiting for the AEC to finalise its count.
“The AEC mis-allocated 700 votes of mine to the LNP (it was just human error on the night) so we had to wait for them to find those votes and to finalise the distribution of preferences, which they did yesterday.”
MORE NORTH BRISBANE NEWS:
New owner plans major refurbishment for Sandgate RSL club
Aspley pinball wizard takes on world’s best
Ms Wells said she was now excited about working for her community.
“I’ve been working towards this for a long time,” she said.
“I never took it (winning the seat) for granted. I attended 307 community events and we doorknocked or phoned more than 36,000 people across 13 months of campaigning.
“We certainly left nothing to chance.
“Lilley has always been a marginal seat, that’s something (former ALP member) Wayne (Swan) has always impressed upon me as he mentored me to this point.”
Even though there was a 5.04 per cent swing against the ALP, Ms Wells said she found it interesting those votes went to protest groups rather than the LNP.
“One Nation got 5.35 per cent of the vote, Palmer’s United Australia Party got 2.25 per cent and Fraser Anning got 1.20 per cent. They got nearly 9 per cent of the vote and they were all parties who didn’t run in 2016
“There was a strong protest vote and my test is to demonstrate that I will fight for them.
“I’ll be a very hard working local candidate.
“I am keenly aware that this was a very close race and that there’s a lot of work for Labor to do to be able to win government.
“I’m grateful that people put their faith in me. I’m the first new member for Lilley since 1998 and that’s a big change.”
Ms Wells said she would continue to advocate for funding to projects she announced during the election campaign.
This included:
■ $2 million to complete Stage 1 of the Northside Wizards five court stadium at Zillmere;
■ $1 million for Oxenham Park, Nundah to upgrade and expand 40-year-old facilities shared by Toombul District Cricket Club and Mayne Tigers AFL Club; and
■ $200,000 towards the upgrade of Sandgate Memorial Park.
Ms Wells will be based at the current electorate office at 1162 Sandgate Rd, Nundah but has plans to move to new premises with better access.
Wayne Swan had held the seat of Lilley for the ALP since 1998. He announced early last year he wouldn’t be recontesting the seat so he could spend more time with his family.
In June last year he was elected as the ALP’s national president.
