Bennelong by-election: Sydney electorate decides on next MP
UPDATE: Bennelong voters swung towards Labor but not enough to send star candidate Kristina Keneally to Canberra, meaning John Alexander, who vacated the seat over the citizenship saga, will be returned as MP.
NSW
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Bennelong voters swung towards Labor but not enough to send star candidate Kristina Keneally to Canberra, meaning John Alexander, who vacated the seat over the citizenship saga, will be returned as MP.
With 38 of 39 polling places returned and nearly 75 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Alexander was leading on the two-candidate preferred with 54.14 per cent. Ms Keneally was polling 45.86 per cent.
Sky News announced the verdict after more than a quarter of votes had been counted. The win allows Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to maintain a one-seat majority.
With eight booths counted, Labor had experienced a swing of 7.12 per cent — just shy of the 9 per cent needed to claim the seat.
Of the 106,582 constituents who were enrolled to vote, more than one-quarter lodged a postal or pre-poll.
Speaking on SkyNews, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne had said the postals, which will be counted on Sunday, were likely to favour the Liberals.
“If we are ahead on the polling booths tonight, I don’t think we can go behind on the postals,” he said.
Across the booths, a swing of 11.4 per cent towards Labor was recorded at Carlingford, and 4 per cent at Eastwood West Booth — both comprising significant numbers of Chinese-Australian voters.
At Macquarie Park Booth, an area characterised by its high rises and large student populations, Labor was enjoying a swing of up to 9.5 per cent.
Both parties noted voter turnout to be down, with waning interest forcing Labor to take the extraordinary step of sending out doorknockers to urge households to simply vote.
Australian Electoral Commission counts showed 13,387 people had pre-polled with another 15,571 applying for a postal vote, leaving around 77,624 voters of 106,582 that are enrolled to vote yesterday.
BENNELONG’S BIG DAY: HOW POLLING DAY PANNED OUT
Complaints to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and police by both parties alleging breaches and illegalities continued yesterday, with Labor accusing the Liberals of “touching” ballot papers.
The Liberals called Labor out for conducting robocalls, sending voters to a website that instructed them how to vote for Ms Keneally.
The campaign marks the end of a dramatic few weeks for both the Opposition and the government, with the Liberals claiming a scalp in Senator Sam Dastyari over questionable Chinese links, and Labor putting up a menacing candidate in Kristina Keneally to ensure former Liberal MP John Alexander would have to work for his seat.
Internal Liberal research leading into the poll showed voters were initially enamoured by the American-born former NSW premier, before swaying back to Mr Alexander.
The result was linked to a dirty Liberal Party campaign whereby voters were reminded of Ms Keneally political links to jailed former powerbrokers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald.
A senior Liberal source said the research also showed Mr Shorten’s popularity to be down in the once blue-ribbon electorate.
“Keneally’s numbers definitely came off in the last few weeks,” a senior Liberal source said.
“People did not like her connection to Obeid — those of a certain age that remember — and they also did not like that fact that she could always go to the Senate if she did not win.
“Bill Shorten is also unpopular here.”
China dominated the political agenda with Labor buoyed by a social media backlash over the Government’s foreign spy crackdown.
Traffic congestion appeared to be a key local concern, with the Coalition pledging to pour $100 million to build a transport interchange at Macquarie Park.
As for the campaign itself, Labor drew around $250,000 out of its coffers while the Liberals ploughed in around $1 million.