Federal election results: The most shocking upsets from election night

Election night delivered a whole bunch of surprise results – and neither party escaped the parade of humiliations.

The 2022 federal election has delivered a series of surprise results, with the Liberal Party suffering significant losses but Labor failing to claim all the spoils.

That’s because the “teal” independents and Greens both had strong nights.

Here are the dozen seats that delivered the most shocking results.

Bass

This is the rarest of specimens from the night: a surprise Liberal Party hold.

Sitting Liberal MP Bridget Archer was defending a wafer-thin margin of 0.4 per cent, but defied history (Bass is notorious for turfing out incumbents) and the national swing against her party to survive.

We can probably put that down to the independent streak she showed during the last three years, famously crossing the floor to vote against her own leader.

While Scott Morrison did campaign multiple times in Bass, he was conspicuously absent from much of Ms Archer’s campaign material.

Her campaign worked. She became the first person to retain Bass since 2001.

Bridget Archer – one Liberal who can still be all smiles. Picture: Alex Treacy

Fowler

Independent Dai Le has beaten one of Labor’s most prominent frontbenchers, former New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally, in the previously safe seat Fowler.

The electorate, created in 1984, had never previously been held by anyone other than Labor. Outgoing MP Chris Hayes won it with 64 per cent of the two-party vote in 2019.

Mr Hayes had publicly backed a local lawyer, Tu Le, to succeed him when Labor instead parachuted in Ms Keneally, who moved there from Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The independent candidate argued Ms Keneally – who was expected to become home affairs minister in a Labor government – lacked “actual knowledge” about the challenges facing the community she wanted to represent.

Kristina Keneally at a campaign event in Fowler this week. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Goldstein

This was admittedly one of the seats seen as more likely to fall to an independent. But MP Tim Wilson, an assistant minister in the government, was a big scalp.

He was beaten by former ABC journalist turned teal independent Zoe Daniel.

“What we have achieved here is extraordinary. Safe Liberal seat, two-term incumbent,” Ms Daniel told her celebrating supporters.

Mr Wilson, for his part, blamed his troubles on an “unholy alliance” between GetUp!, the Labor Party and the Greens, among others.

Griffith

Greens candidate Max Chanler-Mather appears to have overcome both the incumbent Labor MP, Terri Butler, and the LNP’s Olivia Roberts, to add another Greens seat to the House.

This is a significant shift. It turns the Greens from a one-seat party to a bloc of MPs. If Labor falls short of a majority, the minor party will have all the more influence.

Hasluck

The massive swing towards Labor in Western Australia was one of the night’s biggest surprises, and it was typified by the defeat of Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt in the seat of Hasluck.

This one was on Labor’s list of targeted seats – but it certainly wasn’t at the top.

Higgins

The seat former held by Howard government treasurer Peter Costello and then minister Kelly O’Dwyer has fallen to Labor.

Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah beat the incumbent Liberal, Dr Katie Allen, making this the first time the seat will be held by anyone other than a Liberal since 1975.

Kooyong

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was sitting on a very safe 13 per cent margin, but it appears he couldn’t hold out against independent Monique Ryan.

“While it’s mathematically possible that we win in Kooyong, it’s definitely difficult,” Mr Frydenberg said on election night. Not quite a concession, but it was close.

Should his defeat be confirmed, he’s the Liberal Party’s biggest loss, and it has ramifications for the direction of the party going forward. With Mr Frydenberg gone and Scott Morrison vacating the leadership, Peter Dutton will be the clear frontrunner.

Josh Frydenberg. Picture: David Caird

Mackellar

Another teal independent, Sophie Scamps, knocked off incumbent MP Jason Falinski, who held Mackellar with a margin of 13.2 per cent.

You’ve detected the trend by now – previously safe Liberal seats falling to inexperienced independent candidates en masse.

North Sydney

Another independent, Kylea Tink, knocked out Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman in a seat the party had held since 1996.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said Mr Zimmerman was the victim of a “contagion effect” and was being “punished” for the views of other candidates. He was alluding to the controversial Liberal “captain’s pick” Katherine Deves in neighbouring Warringah.

Ryan

The Greens claimed another win in Ryan, with Elizabeth Watson-Brown taking down LNP MP Julian Simmonds.

That takes their contingent in the House to three. A trebling!

Tangney

It’s fair to say this one wasn’t really on the radar. Ben Morton spent much of the campaign travelling around the country with Scott Morrison – not the act of someone who was worried about his own seat.

He held Tangney with a margin of 9.5 per cent, but fell victim to the surprise WA swing.

Wentworth

Formerly a safe Liberal seat, Wentworth has flipped back and forth since the retirement of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Independent Kerryn Phelps beat Liberal Dave Sharma in the by-election caused by Mr Turnbull’s exit. Then Mr Sharma won it back from her. This time, he lost it to a different independent, Allegra Spender.