Election has been one of shocks and surprises

HE HASN’T voted in all of his 72 years, but Derryn Hinch certainly backed a winner in the Senate tonight — himself.

IT SEEMED like the federal election result was all wrapped up, but there were some big shocks in key seats.

Pundits were leaving open the possibility of a Labor win as the early counting revealed the party had won key seats in NSW.

But a more extraordinary result was in Queensland, where the Liberals looked set to lose senate seats to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

“If we look at the overall vote in Queensland to Pauline Hanson, it is extraordinary,” shock jock Alan Jones told Channel 7. “And that has had an impact on many seats.”

One Nation cleaned up almost 20 per cent of the primary vote in the lower house seats of Hinkler and almost 10 per cent in Longman, while Ms Hanson herself is expected to nab a seat in the Senate.

And broadcaster Derryn Hinch, aka the Human Headline, has overcome a lifelong aversion to back a winner in the Senate — himself.

'Hell, I'm just starting': Derryn Hinch wins Senate seat. https://t.co/l62j1UFDCt

— 7News Yahoo7 (@Y7News) July 2, 2016

“It looks like I’m going to be Senator elect, which is pretty good news,” Hinch told Channel 7.

“This is the first time I’ve ever voted in my life. I’ve waited 72 years to find someone worth voting for. I’ll be the oldest man in the Senate, but I can handle that.”

The Derryn Hinch Justice Party has a platform to increase penalties for child sex offenders and tighten parole and bail laws.

Meanwhile, Labor is performing better than many expected in NSW.

Not only has Anthony Albanese saved his seat of Grayndler from the Greens threat, but Labor has claimed the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro, plus Macquarie, Patterson and Barton.

Labor candidate Linda Burney will be the first indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives after winning Barton. The seat had been held by Coalition’s Nick Varvaris since 2013 but became a notional Labor seat after a redrawing of electoral boundaries.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said her party was also claiming Dobell and Macarthur, which has been on a knife-edge throughout early counting.

Anthony Albanese supporters cheer at the announcement of him winning the seat of Grayndler at the Cyprus Club in Stanmore. Picture: Jenny Evans

Shock Jock Alan Jones said Labor was off to “an enormous start there in NSW” as counting showed the two major parties were “neck and neck”.

“It does appear as though some of the dominoes are falling,” Jones said on Channel 7.

Former Labor politician Mark Latham was astonished by his party’s performance, having been more circumspect about Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s prospects of winning government.

“I didn’t see this coming,” Mr Latham said. “I’m just marvelling at how close this is shaping up.”

Labor senator Sam Dastyari said Mr Shorten had visited booths in Macquarie today and noted strong support.

“The story for Labor is these NSW seats have come home and they’ve come home strong,” Mr Dastyari said.

“We are winning everything we’ve wanted to win in NSW tonight and that is remarkable.”

Former Victorian Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett said Labor had run the stronger campaign.

“I think Bill campaigned much better than our side,” Mr Kennett told Channel 7. “I think he was prepared to go outside the square with his policies, even if I don't agree with many of them.”

The so-called ‘Mediscare’ campaign has dominated Labor’s message this election. Picture: Dan Peled

But other Liberal figures have attributed Labor’s strong result to its “Mediscare” campaign.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the issue had been raised with her repeatedly on the hustings by voters in Liberal seats who feared for the future of the public health system.

“Labor seem to have based their campaign on a monstrous lie that seems to have deceived many people,” Ms Bishop told Channel 7.

The deputy Liberal leader was confident of the party’s showing in her home state of Western Australia, where they hoped to steal the seat of Burt and retain Cowan, Swan and Hasluck.

“The West might well be deciding the vote; it’s been a long time since it’s been the West’s turn but obviously 12 seats in Western Australia out of 16 would be a good boost to it,” she told Channel 7.

Mr Latham agreed, saying “What happens in WA will determine whether we have a hung parliament. It all hinges on WA.”

Earlier, Mr Kennett foreshadowed a potential statewide loss for his party in Tasmania.

“It’s quite possible the Liberals will hold no seats in Tasmania,” Mr Kennett said.

Independent candidate Rob Oakeshot’s hoped for return to Parliament looked to have been a failure, with Cowper called as safe for incumbent Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker.

But the AEC predicted that Labor’s Luke Gosling would steal the seat of Solomon from the Country Liberals’ Natasha Griggs.

[e-mail]