‘We’ve made history’: Labor holds on to knife-edge seat of Bennelong

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Labor MP Jerome Laxale conceded he faced an uphill battle to retain the knife-edge seat of Bennelong – once a Liberal stronghold and held by former prime minister John Howard – on Sydney’s lower north shore on Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve never held on to Bennelong. History is not on our side, so we need to make history today,” he said.

A few hours later, Laxale had fended off a challenge from controversial Liberal candidate Scott Yung, aided by a hefty swing towards Labor, despite a boundary redraw that tightened the race for power.

Labor’s Jerome Laxale celebrates his Bennelong election victory. Credit: Janie Barrett

“Tonight, everyone, we’ve made history,” Laxale told a jubilant crowd at The Ranch in North Ryde less than three hours after polling booths closed.

“An absolutely extraordinary result. What we’ve achieved here in Bennelong on our new boundaries is pretty exceptional.”

Laxale was leading with 61 per cent of the vote ahead of Yung on 39 per cent, with more than 40 per cent of votes counted about 9pm on Saturday. There was an 11 per cent swing towards the ALP.

The showdown between Laxale and Yung – one of the country’s tightest election races – has been characterised by a string of controversies, slurs, missteps, and accusations of a smear campaign.

Laxale, a former Ryde mayor, was elected in 2022 and held the seat on a one per cent margin. It was only the second time Labor had won Bennelong in more than seven decades.

However, the boundary redraw that abolished the seat of North Sydney shifted Bennelong east, taking in more of Lane Cove and Hunters Hill, and turned it into a notionally Liberal seat with a wafer-thin margin of 0.04 per cent. The seat also covers Ryde, Eastwood and Gladesville.

Labor MP Jerome Laxale hopes to extend his grip on power in the lower north shore seat of Bennelong.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Speaking after his victory, Laxale said: “Our goal from day one was to win it, and then hold it. Halfway through that, we got a boundary redistribution which put a spanner in the works.

“But what I’ve learnt from the people of Lane Cove, Hunters Hill, Woolwich and Chatswood, is that obviously it’s policies that matter, not the party you belong to.

“They chose a candidate and a party that aligns with their values, and I’ll represent them as hard as I can for the next three years.”

Yung has come under scrutiny for his campaign finance record after falsely claiming he had raised $60,000 during a dinner with former prime minister John Howard before the NSW election in 2019. Howard held Bennelong for 33 years from 1974.

Yung also faced questions over his ties to a Chinese Communist Party-linked casino high roller.

Laxale, too, attracted unwanted attention in the final days of the campaign when he was forced to apologise for his father making homophobic remarks about a Liberal volunteer.

Yung took aim at the Labor Party when he addressed the scrutiny surrounding his campaign as he cast his vote on Saturday.

“I respect what the media does, and I’ll continue to respect that, but can I just say that Labor has run a smear campaign against me.”

Liberal candidate Scott Yung with former prime minister Tony Abbott in Bennelong on Saturday.Credit: Steven Siewert

Laxale was asked whether he thought his father’s comments had hurt his campaign in the critical final stretch, and said: “We’ll see what happens.

“We’ve been really focusing on cost of living and housing locally here … my dad regrets what he said, and he’s very apologetic, and we’ll move on from that.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott threw his support behind Yung when the pair visited a polling booth on Saturday, saying he didn’t believe the media scrutiny would hurt Yung’s chances of winning.

“I think he’s answered them very effectively – it’s all a lot of beltway bubble stuff,” Abbott said.

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