John Pesutto hails Nicole Werner’s win in Warrandyte as ‘evidence of turning tide’

Nicole Werner is on track to secure the highest margin of any MP in suburban Melbourne, Labor or Liberal, as counting continues after Saturday’s by-election win.

Nicole Werner, centre, with dad Peter, husband Fraser and mum Belinda. Picture: David Crosling

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto has hailed the Liberal Party’s victory in the by-election for the outer northeastern Melbourne seat of Warrandyte as evidence of a “turning tide” in state politics.

With more than three quarters of the vote counted on Sunday, Nicole Ta-Ei Werner – a former charity worker, youth pastor and staffer for Senator Jane Hume – had secured a two-party-preferred majority of 71.1 per cent against Greens candidate and local Deputy Mayor Tomas Lightbody on 28.9. Labor did not field a candidate.

Ms Werner’s primary vote of 57.38 per cent compared with 18.55 per cent for Mr Lightbody, 5.7 per cent for Labour DLP candidate Cary De Wit, and 4.15 per cent for independent Maya Tesa.

Another eight candidates, who included representatives of the Sustainable Australia Party, Freedom Party, Victorian Socialists, Family First, and five relatively low profile independents, were all on track to lose their deposit after polling less than 4 per cent of the vote.

“I believe we are turning the tide in Victoria,” Mr Pesutto said, adding that he and Ms Werner had encountered a sense of frustration among voters in Warrandyte, “that people felt like nothing can change, that this is what we’re stuck with”.

“What yesterday showed is that this government won’t get away with it. Sure, they didn’t field a candidate so they didn’t have to face the music, but I am convinced that off the back of a horror budget in May, and then the absolute debacle of the Commonwealth Games, we’ve reached a turning point, and what the people of Warrandyte did in the result yesterday was, I think, confirm that.

“People are ready to start entertaining the idea that we can be better as a state, that we can change things, that we don’t have to put up with the waste, the incompetence, and the corruption under the Andrews government.”

Ms Werner and John Pesutto on Sunday, after she was elected as the Member for Warrandyte at Saturday’s by-election. Picture: David Crosling

Asked for his response to the Liberal victory on Sunday, Premier Daniel Andrews said it was a “great honour to be chosen to represent your local community in the state parliament, and I wish (Ms Werner) well”.

“It’s a unique by-election. The Labor Party didn’t field a candidate, but it’s a fantastic honour.

“It’s something I’ve done for nearly 21 years,” Mr Andrews said.

Ms Werner is replacing Baillieu-Napthine government minister and sometime leadership hopeful Ryan Smith, who has retired after 16 years in parliament, after holding Warrandyte with a 4.2 per cent margin in November.