Tears and teal as Goldstein independent Zoe Daniel defeats Liberal Tim Wilson

Word spread and soon supporters were flooding into the bowling club bar to celebrate independent Zoe Daniel’s win and the revolt against major parties.

Just after 6pm on Saturday in a backroom of the Brighton bowling club, the team of number crunchers for Goldstein independent Zoe Daniel got the first hint of the teal rebellion that was about to sweep the county.

An early taste of pre-poll votes showed a stunning swing towards the former ABC journalist. Ms Daniel needed a hefty 7.8 per cent swing to unseat Liberal incumbent Tim Wilson in this once safe blue-ribbon Melbourne seat, but early figures were showing a swing of around 12 per cent.

“Really? Can that be right?” one of Ms Daniel’s number crunchers muttered aloud as he stared at his screen.

He relayed the news to Ms Daniel who was sitting in a small room next door with her family and close friends. The 49-year-old former foreign correspondent sat quietly with a glass of white wine watching the ABC’s election coverage on a TV as her campaign advisers – former ABC colleagues Angela Pippos and Jim Middleton – raced between the number crunchers, the media pack outside and the hundreds of supporters who were arriving at the club.

It quickly became clear that the early swing for Ms Daniel was no mirage. What’s more it was being replicated by teal independents across the country, with Ms Daniel’s supporters in the large hall loudly roaring in delight with each update in Kooyong, Wentworth and elsewhere where independents were poised to win.

Family and friends erupt with delight after ABC election pundit Antony Green called Zoe Daniel as the winner at 9.16pm. Picture: Bernard Wright.

As word spread through the affluent bayside suburb that an upset was on the cards, teal-draped supporters appeared from everywhere, flooding the bar with orders of champagne. They were celebrating with gusto their community’s revolt against the major parties based on the platform of climate, integrity and gender equality.

By around 8pm it became clear Ms Daniel was poised to become the first non-Liberal to win Goldstein. Her campaign team reached out to Tim Wilson’s team to ask if he was going to concede defeat but Mr Wilson said no.

The mood at the Wilson party at Black Rock Yacht Club was initially upbeat for the 100 or so who had gathered to support the Liberal MP, attendees seeming blissfully unaware that a teal wave was coming.

But by 8.30pm, The Australian had officially called it for Ms Daniel. “That’s irresponsible”, Mr Wilson had claimed as he was notified The Australian had called it so early. “We‘re still very confident that we will win.”

Zoe Daniel makes her victory speech to a cheering crowd. Picture: Bernard Wright.

Back at Ms Daniel’s headquarters her advisers were debating whether she should claim victory or wait until Mr Wilson conceded. In the end, the tension was punctured by the ABC’s election pundit Antony Green, who at 9.16pm called Ms Daniel as the winner in Goldstein.

The small room of family and friends erupted. Ms Daniel’s children, Arkie and Pearl, and her husband, Rowan, embraced her, tears flowing.

“We’re going to change the world,‘’ she whispered to her kids before reapplying her tear-smeared make-up and entering the large hall for the first time to raucous cheers.

“What we have achieved here is extraordinary,’ Ms Daniel told the cheering crowd.

“This moment is a testament to the strength of our democracy. There’s a lot of stuff to fix but what this says is that the community can make a difference.

“What it says is that we do have control of our democracy and we are retaking control of our democracy.”

After Ms Daniel had made her victory speech, Mr Wilson finally took to the stage at the yacht club, giving his first speech of the night to a sombre room.

Tim Wilson speaks to media from his election night party at Black Rock Yacht Club. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Seeking to give the thinning number of faithful supporters some hope, he claimed that early and postal votes, which had not yet been counted, might be enough to sneak him over the line. “Tonight is going to be one thing – long,” he said.

“The one thing I want to stress more than anything else, is how much of a privilege he has been for the last six years to represent our wonderful community.”

But by 9.45pm, the mood had officially shifted.

Unlike Mr Wilson, his Liberal supporters had accepted defeat and had resorted to hugs, tears and lots of wine. Goldstein had recorded an 11.6 per cent swing against the Liberals with Ms Daniel leading 53.8 per cent to 46.2 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

In the end, it wasn’t even close.

By 11pm, the Wilson party had emptied out. Chairs were stacked on tables and bar staff, were calling last drinks, only a dozen or so left in the venue.

But at the Brighton bowls club the teal army was in full flight, ignoring calls for last drinks and ordering more champagne as they sought a final selfie with the winner

“Relieved, grateful, excited,” Ms Daniel said to those who asked how she was feeling.

“I just can’t believe the way this community has come together over this.’’

And with that the new member for Goldstein walked out into the night into a new political landscape where independents are no longer oddities, but a mainstream political force.