Amelia Hamer storming back: teal lead in Kooyong halved

Monique Ryan has retracted her election night victory claim as Liberals slash teal lead to under 1000 votes.

Tim Wilson voting at Beaumaris Secondary College. Picture: Nadir Kinani

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Amelia Hamer’s fightback has gathered pace overnight with latest counting revealing the Liberal has slashed Monique Ryan’s lead in Kooyong to 992 votes — half of what it was on Monday.

The Australian Electoral Commission’s updated count on Tuesday morning has confirmed the momentum is sweeping Ms Hamer back into the contest for the Liberal heartland seat.

The comeback has forced the teal MP to retract her election night victory claim and warn the seat was now “too close to call”.

The Liberal candidate started Monday almost 1900 votes behind Dr Ryan and by Monday this was reduced to 1406 votes and by Tuesday morning it was 992 votes.

Strong postal vote support is powering Ms Hamer’s comeback and if the trend continues the end result in the once-Liberal heartland seat in Melbourne’s wealthy inner east could come down to just a few hundred votes.

Dr Ryan, who was swept to victory in 2022 by the teal wave and who celebrated victory on Saturday night, has now conceded the seat was still in play.

In a social media post on Monday, the teal said “the election result in Kooyong is too close to call at this point”.

“It will take some days – possibly some weeks – for the outcome to be confirmed,” she posted.

The AEC has given Dr Ryan a narrow lead of 50.52-49.48 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis in Kooyong.

Monique Ryan celebrating on election night. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Liberal Tim Wilson has surged back into contention against teal Zoe Daniel and is now only 95 votes behind in the electorate of Goldstein.

Mr Wilson’s comeback is powered by a strong showing in postal votes and on the current trend the former Liberal MP, ousted in 2022, is expected to reclaim the bayside electorate.

Political activist group Climate 200, which has pumped millions of dollars into teal campaigns across the country, has told supporters “we’re still anxiously awaiting results in Kooyong and Goldstein and Bradfield”.

“These races are simply too close to call and Mon, Zoe and Nicolette and their incredible campaign teams and volunteers are front of mind for me right now,” Climate 200 chief Byron Fay said in an email to supporters on Monday.

“Some seats are still in flux … they’ve had to fight for every last vote against powerful vested interests.”

Mr Wilson started Sunday trailing Ms Daniel by 1800 votes, but by 4pm on Sunday had clawed back enough votes to be just 95 votes behind. The final result in the fiercely contested bayside seat may not be known for days.

Zoe Daniel with her dog Tully. Picture: Nadir Kinani

In the NSW seat of Bradfield, teal candidate Nicolette Boele is clinging to a 500-vote lead over her Liberal rival.

On Saturday night, Ms Daniel appeared to claim victory when addressing supporters but by yesterday, she had issued a social media post admitting the seat was still in play.

“We have some very tight numbers friends with pre poll and postal votes still being counted,” she said. “Not clear yet unfortunately.”

Goldstein has witnessed one of the most bitter elections in the country with Climate 200 pumping $520,000 into teal-coloured, Tesla-driving Ms Daniel’s campaign.

In his email to supporters on Monday, Climate 200’s Mr Fay claimed that despite the uncertainty around teal MPs in Victoria and NSW, the “community independents movement is here to stay”.

“Without your support, it’s all but certain that the Liberal Party would have won back all the so-called ‘blue ribbon’ seats they lost in 2022,” he wrote.

“Incumbent independents weathered a savage re-election campaign that shocked all of us in its scale.”