NSW Election 2023: Liberal’s Rory Amon set to win Pittwater, despite swing to ‘teal’ independent
The tight state election contest in Pittwater has taken a step closer towards a close win for Liberal Rory Amon, despite being hit with one of the biggest swings in the state.
Manly
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The tight state election contest in Pittwater took a step closer towards a close win for Liberal Rory Amon late on Tuesday afternoon,
Despite a massive 22 per cent swing against the party and a huge vote for so-called ‘teal’ independent’ Jacqui Scruby, Mr Amon should retain the seat for the Liberals, ABC News election analysts declared at 2pm.
But the affluent seat can no longer be described as a “safe” Liberal electorate after Ms Scruby attracted 49.18 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.
Mr Amon, a lawyer and high profile Liberal member of Northern Beaches Council, was chosen relatively late as a candidate — just before Christmas — due to NSW Liberal Party infighting about the number of female candidates chosen to run at March 25 election.
Despite the late start, Mr Amon had attracted more than 45 per cent of first preference, or number “1” votes, compared with 36.5 per cent for Ms Scruby, based on 79 per cent of votes being counted.
Mr Amon, whose campaign theme was “Putting Pittwater First”, would not be drawn into declaring victory on Tuesday afternoon, .
“The count is continuing and we’re ahead at the moment, but we have to wait for more votes to roll in,” he said. “Things can change.”
A source close to Mr Amon said if he was elected as Pittwater MP, he would resign from the council.
Ms Scruby posted on her Facebook page that regardless of the result “we, the community, achieved the one of the biggest swings in the state” and that Pittwater was no officially an unsafe seat.
“There’s definitely a mood for change,” Ms Scruby wrote.
The likely Liberal victory in Pittwater comes as sitting Liberal MP James Griffin fought off a the challenge of ‘teal’ and community activist Joeline Hackman in Manly.
But the Liberals went down in Wakehurst with a stunning win by Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan, running as a non-teal independent.
Mr Regan has indicated he will step down as mayor once he was sworn in as an MP.
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