Federal election 2019: Gladys Liu wins seat of Chisholm

Liberal Gladys Liu will become the first female Chinese-Australian woman to sit in Parliament in a win that has helped Scott Morrison secure a majority.

Scott Morrison has secured a clear majority in the lower house now that the seat of Chisholm has been called for the Liberal Party.

The old seat of Julia Banks — who abandoned her seat and the Liberal Party to run in Flinders — has been taken by Gladys Liu.

She now holds 50.7 per cent of the vote, ahead of Labor’s Jennifer Yang.

Julia Banks was the only Liberal MP to win a seat off Labor at the last election, but her gamble to run as an independent did not pay off in this poll with Liberal minister Greg Hunt holding on to thee seat of Flinders.

Ms Banks quit the Liberals last year to join the crossbench, slamming her party’s treatment of Malcolm Turnbull, its approach on issues such as asylum seekers and climate change, and its failure to address its problems with women.

She held the seat of Chisholm on a margin of 2.9 per cent.

Ms Liu, the Liberal candidate, recently made headlines after it emerged her supporters were spreading scare campaigns on Labor’s policies to the Chinese-Australian community on social media, the ABC reported.

Liberal candidate Gladys Liu made headlines after it emerged her supporters were spreading scare campaigns on Labor’s policies to the Chinese-Australian community on social media.

Her supporters encouraged members to share a fake Australian Financial Review story that called for a reduction “in the input of refugees … and zero tolerance for refugees with specific beliefs”, warning that “calls for the next Hitler will only become louder and louder”.

The post has since been removed by WeChat, replaced by a warning that said it contained “vulgar, misleading and inflammatory words”.

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Nearly 12 per cent of eligible voters in Chisholm have Chinese ancestry.

FEDERAL

2019

NSW marginal seats

Chisholm

The candidates running for Chisholm — in the order that they appear on the ballot — were Ian Dobby (independent), Angela Mary Dorian (Rise Up Australia Party), Luke Arthur (The Greens), Gladys Liu (Liberal), Rosemary Lavin (Animal Justice Party), Anne Wicks (Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party), George Zoraya (United Australia Party), Jennifer Yang (Australian Labor Party) and Philip Jenkins (Labour DLP).