Labor sweeps Sydney’s southwest but Dai Le battling on in Fowler

Labor is on course to sweep to victory across southwest Sydney, fighting off the Liberals and independents amid significant swings, although Dai Le is fending off the ALP in Fowler.

Dai Le speaks to voters on Saturday in Fowler. Picture: Jane Dempster

Labor looks is on course to sweep to victory across southwest and western Sydney, fighting off the Liberals and independents in a host of marginals amid significant swings, although Dai Le looks set to fend off the ALP in Fowler.

The ALP’s southwest Sydney heartlands had appeared at risk to pro-Palestine independents and a concerted Liberal effort in Werriwa but results on Saturday night projected Labor victories in all three, while also retaining marginals Reid and Parramatta.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen also was projected to retain his seat of McMahon and the ALP appeared to have only been robbed of a southwest sweep by Fowler incumbent Dai Le.

The independent was ahead in Fowler late Saturday amid about a 1 per cent swing with about 94 per cent of the vote counted, leading Labor’s Tu Le by 2.1 per cent on two-party preferred.

At the time of writing, the division had yet to be called for Dai Le or Labor.

At Dai Le’s event at the Fairfield Showground supporters waited anxiously but optimistically amid growing belief that the large pre-poll votes would skew strongly toward the independent. About 65,000 people are believed to have voted during pre-poll.

Dai Le late on Saturday said she was “quietly confident” and believed she was “just over the line” but refrained from declaring.

“A large proportion of our community said ‘we want an independent to represent us’,” Dai Le said, criticising Labor’s campaign tactics.

“I’m very humbled … It’s a very interesting seat (in terms of the swing). I’ve worked really hard with my team to serve the community.”

Jason Clare fended off independent candidate Ahmed Ouf in Blaxland amid a 8 per cent swing toward the ALP with the education minister securing 71 per cent of the two-party preferred with about 26 per cent of the vote counted.

Independent Candidate for Blaxland Ahmed Ouf. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Education Minister Jason Clare: Picture: NewsWire

In Watson, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was locked in a high-profile battle against independent Ziad Basyouny – both Dr Basyouny and Mr Ouf were backed by The Muslim Vote campaign – but retained his seat with a 12 per-cent swing toward the ALP, with about 23 per cent of the vote counted.

Anne Stanley’s Werriwa had appeared the Liberals’ best bet to flip one of the area’s seats but the incumbent appeared set to retain the seat amid a 0.4 per-cent swing and, with 37 per cent of the vote counted, was ahead 56-44 on two-party preferred against Sam Kayal.

In Parramatta, Labor’s Andrew Charlton retained his seat amid a 9.6 per cent swing toward the ALP – sitting on 63 per cent of the two-party preferred with 33 per cent of the vote counted – and Sally Sitou in Reid enjoyed a 8 per-cent swing, recording 63 per cent of the two-party preferred with 31 per cent of the vote counted.