Labor claims ‘ugly win’ for Kristy McBain in Eden-Monaro

Labor’s Kristy McBain is headed to Canberra for Eden-Monaro, saying bushfire relief is top of her agenda.

Labor’s Kristy McBain has claimed victory in the knife-edge contest for the prized seat of Eden-Monaro, saying as the count stood it was just too hard for her Liberal opponent Fiona Kotvojs to win.

“With over 1000 votes that we are now in the lead and most of those votes counted, with very few votes left to count, it would require about a 63 per cent vote on a two-party preferred basis to go to Fiona for the Liberal Party to claim the seat,” Ms McBain said in her home town of Merimbula.

“On all metrics it looks like the Labor Party will secure the seat again.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Kristy McBain was an “outstanding choice” for Eden-Monaro.

“Kristy McBain will stand up for the forgotten people of Eden-Monaro,” Mr Albanese said.

Ms McBain, the former Mayor of Bega Valley, said she was honoured to represent the people of the electorate, many who were still living with the devastation of a horror summer of bushfires.

“Today was about Eden-Monaro, It’s about giving a voice to the people who feel like they’ve been left behind,” Ms McBain told reporters on Sunday afternoon.

“My first priority is to make sure bushfire relief is rolled out to those people who need it. This region deserves answers.”

Neither party was able to claim the win at election night functions on Saturday, with too many pre-poll votes still to be counted.

By Sunday morning, however, frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon called the result an “ugly win,” but a “win just the same.”

Speaking on the ABC’s Insiders program, Mr Fitzgibbon said the party needed to focus on lifting its primary vote after Ms McBain suffered a three per cent swing against her on first preferences.

“We do need to lift our primary vote,” he said. “(But) we were never likely to do that yesterday.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said that Ms McBain would improve on the result at the next election.

The latest count from the Australian Electoral Commission shows Ms McBain winning the seat on preference flows — including from the Nationals Party — with Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs winning 37.78 per cent of the primary compared to the ALP’s primary vote of 36.18.

It will be while before the final results of the Eden Monaro by-election are determined. For now I would like to thank our Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs for all her hard work and diligence during her campaign. pic.twitter.com/58ULicWjik

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) July 5, 2020

Mr Fitzgibbon said that Anthony Albanese’s position as leader of the party was not in danger following the result.

“That was never in doubt,” he said. “He inherited a broken Labor Party after the 2019 election ... Trust in the Labor Party in the broader electorate had collapsed.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said that Mr Albanese had begun the “rebuilding process” following the 2019 loss and was taking the Labor Party back to the “sensible centre ground.”

Mr Burke also took aim at the Liberal Party for arguing the result was damaging for Mr Albanese given the usual swing against the government in by-elections of between 3.5 to 4 per cent, saying it betrayed a “real weird desperation.”

“They’re just desperate to try and cause him some damage,” Mr Burke said. “After preferences have been distributed ... we’re significantly in front. We’re in a very good position.”

Mr Burke said the outcome was an endorsement of Labor “values” and warned the government would “leave people behind,” pointing to the termination of the JobKeeper payment at the end of September.

Labor’s Kristy McBaincasts her vote at Merimbula Public School with her children Ruby, 10, Max, 8 and Jack, 5. Picture: Sean Davey.

He also attacked the design of the $1,500 a fortnight JobKeeper payment.

Mr Burke said the payment did not capture a woman working as a casual on the checkout at the supermarket five days a week who had worked with the same employer for 11 months, but could apply to a teenager who worked one shift a week and who still lived at home.

“How do you justify this?” he said.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the result for Mr Albanese was “devastating.”

“He threw the book at this,” Mr Taylor told Sky News.

“As you know, on average, by-elections like this have a swing against the government of 3.8 per cent,” he said. “There’s no question this is a very good result for us.”

“This is, under the circumstances, a very strong endorsement of where the government is going.”

Mr Taylor -- who holds the NSW seat of Hume -- said that Ms Kotvojs had done a “stunningly good job.”

“She got out there and sold the government’s message ... She’s worked extremely hard.”