Gilmore re-elects Labor’s Fiona Phillips after ‘rollercoaster’ vote count

The “rollercoaster” vote count has been finalised in Gilmore with Labor’s Fiona Phillips holding on to the South Coast seat by the slenderest of margins. Here’s what she had to say.

It took 26 gruelling days, but the final seat in the House of Representatives was decided on Thursday with Labor’s Fiona Phillips declared the victor in the key electorate of Gilmore.

Mrs Phillips held off a strong challenge from former Liberal NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance to claim a second term in the South Coast seat with 373 votes (or 0.2 per cent) the final margin between the two candidates.

The winning margin was so fine that Mr Constance forced Mrs Phillips to put the champagne on ice, lodging an application for a recount on Tuesday which was knocked back by the Australian Electoral Commission less than 24 hours later.

Speaking at the AEC counting station in Port Kembla, Mrs Phillips said she was “ecstatic” to be re-elected while admitting she had been on tenterhooks since the polls closed on May 21.

“Probably after the election for sure,” Mrs Phillips said when asked if she’d had more sleepless nights prior or post the Election Day.

.@fiboydphillips flanked by supporters as she was declared the winner in #Gilmore.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride (since May 21). I’ve got some very good advisors and they said just go away for a bit & don’t look too much. I hoped we would win and that we did.” #auspolpic.twitter.com/cIwyaQX4yC

— Dylan Arvela (@dylanarvela) June 16, 2022

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. I’ve got some really good advisers, staff and volunteers who said ‘just go away for a bit and don’t look too much’ and they let me know at the end of the day what happened.

“You can’t change the result after the election so I put my faith in the scrutineers and just hoped that we would win and that we did.”

Mr Constance picked up around 15,000 more votes than the Liberal’s 2019 candidate, Warren Mundine, which Mrs Phillips put down to his visibility in the community for the best part of two decades.

Mrs Phillips also revealed she is yet to receive a message from the Liberal candidate.

Liberal Gilmore candidate Andrew Constance made a failed attempt to get a recount in the seat. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“This election we had Andrew Constance who has been a local member within the Gilmore electorate for 18 years and has been a state minister – we won, a win is a win,” she said.

“I am pretty proud of that and I’m proud of every single person’s efforts in this election.

“This is a significant win and no one should try and take away from that. There are circumstances here that were very different.

“I am a little bit surprised [Andrew Constance hasn’t contacted me], but to be honest at the end of the day it doesn’t really concern me too much.

“What concerns me is getting re-elected and representing the people of Gilmore and I am sure I’ll hear from Andrew in due course.

“Andrew Constance could have conceded three weeks ago when I was 370 votes in front and he didn’t, I think that says it all.”

Mrs Phillips is Labor’s 77th member in what is a majority government and she‘s pinpointed access to housing as her top priority as she heads back to Canberra.

Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips moments after being officially re-elected. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“The big one at the moment is the lack of housing,” she said.

“That’s one that I am really keen to address. I am really keen to get stuck into the national housing affordability council that Labor is setting up.

“I think there’s some really important work that needs to be done there, not just at the federal level but the state and local government level as well so I want to be a key part of that and help drive that change and ultimately help people right across Gilmore.”