Nationals in close battle for safe Labor seat after string of victories

A key Victorian seat that’s been held by Labor since 1988 is on the verge of toppling - and the party behind the surprise swing has some demands.

While the Liberals have been left counting their losses after a landslide defeat, one party has enjoyed a string of success, with a safe Labor seat currently within reach.

The National Party, along with the Queensland-based Liberal National Party, have secured 24 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives as of Wednesday morning.

The National Party alone have secured nine lower house seats, losing just one – Calare in NSW – to Independent Andrew Gee, who quit the Nationals in late 2022.

But they could soon be gaining another.

Nationals candidate Andrew Lethlean is in a close contest to nab the Victorian seat of Bendigo from Labor’s Lisa Chesters.

Bendigo Nationals candidate Andrew Lethlean (pictured with Nationals federal leader David Littleproud) is in a close battle to snatch the safe Labor seat. Picture:

Labor has held the seat since 1998, with Ms Chesters heading into this year’s election with a margin of 11.2 per cent.

But as of Wednesday morning, Ms Chesters leads with a slim 50.16 per cent of votes, with Mr Lethlean battling it out with 49.84 per cent. Over 85 per cent of votes have so far been counted.

A Nationals’ victory for Bendigo would represent an over 10 per cent swing towards the party.

The Nationals have not confirmed how much money they have thrown at Mr Leathen’s campaign but Ms Chesters has claimed he had access to a $1 million pot, the ABC reports.

During the campaign, Mr Lethlean came under scrutiny after it was reported a bar he owned sold alcohol while its licence was suspended. The licence has since been paid and reinstated.

Mr Lethlean said the suspension was the result of an “administrative oversight” and said the annual licence fee was paid as soon as the issue was identified.

The Nationals are locked in a close battle for Bendigo. Picture: AEC

Push for more ministries

As of Wednesday morning, the Coalition has secured 40 seats in the lower house, while Labor has 88.

Nationals MP Michael McCormack told the ABC his party would be calling for more shadow ministries because the Nationals made up a larger percentage of the Coalition.

“It’s worked out on a per capita basis with how many seats you hold as part of a joint number in the Coalition,” Mr McCormack said

As the Liberals come to term with their losses, the Riverina MP, who retained his seat with a 3.3 per cent swing, advised Liberals to keep their grievances to their party room.

“Anonymous Liberal people who so often background and brief journalists in Canberra, shut your bloody mouths,” he said.

“Don’t share it with the rest of the world and if you do share it with the rest of the world, have the courage and conviction to put your name to it.”

The Nationals’ electorate map. Secured seats pictured in dark green. Picture: The Australian

Call for Coalition gender quotas

There is set to be a record number of women in Australia’s parliament than ever before following Saturday’s election. However minimal will be from within the Coalition.

In the House of Representative, Labor has increased its female representation to 47 MPs out of a confirmed 87, meaning the number of female MPs outnumbers male MPs (40).

New faces set to enter parliament this year include Barton’s Ash Ambihaipahar, who retained the seat of former Indigenous minister Linda Burney for Labor, Claire Clutterham, who flipped the Adelaide seat of Sturt, and Ali France, who defeated Liberal leader Peter Dutton in Dickson.

Meanwhile, the Coalition has seven female MPs out 39, a decrease from its 2022 result of nine.

The drop in numbers is largely due to the election losses of former Hughes MP Jenny Ware and Bass MP Bridget Archer, and the retirements of McPherson MP Karen Andrews and Forrest MP Nola Marino.

Following the results, Liberal senator Maria Kovacic is calling for the Coalition to implement gender quotas – which the party has long resisted – to ensure more women are elected to parliament.

“We don’t have as many women as we have men, and people want us to have more women representing our party in the parliament,” she told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

“We need to move back to the centre. It is very, very clear that the Australian public, the voting public, were not happy with the way that we were conducting ourselves as a potential government.”

However, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has rejected the calls for quotas, labelling it a “knee jerk reaction to the outcome of the election”.

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has rejected the calls for gender quotas. . Picture: Gera Kazakov

“We have to make sure that we are reaching women for their support and putting forth an argument to demonstrate to them what we’re going to do to improve their lives and a future for their children, but I don’t believe we need to introduce quotas,” the Northern Territory Senator told Sky News.

“I would hate to think that I ever got to my position on the fact that I’m a woman or anything else for that matter, but what I do think we need to do is preselecting people with very strong values and we need to get out there and push harder and stronger.”

Counting continues on Wednesday.