Federal Election 2022: Michelle Landry speaks after being re-elected for Capricornia

The election campaign is officially over with incumbent MP Michelle Landry re-elected but things will be different this time around with the Capricornia MP in opposition. Here’s what she had to say.

The election campaign is officially over after six long weeks of campaigning, and incumbent MP Michelle Landry is back for a fourth term in the seat of Capricornia.

But things will be a bit different this time around, with the MP being in opposition for the first time in 15 years.

Labor candidate Russell Robertson conceded defeat on Sunday after gaining a swing of 6.68 per cent, but it wasn’t enough to get him over the line.

According to Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) data, Ms Landry currently has 42,921 votes, a lead of 8,737.

Ms Landry said while she was pleased to be re-elected, it was sad the coalition wasn’t in government anymore.

But she said she wouldn’t stop fighting for Capricornia.

“I won’t be letting Labor get away with anything and I will be making sure we get our fair share up here in the regions,” she said.

“Labor has made quite a few commitments around Central Queensland, particularly in Flynn, and we will be holding them accountable for that.”

Ms Landry said she was disappointed her $10 million commitment for a new apron at Bay 7 of the Rockhampton Airport wasn’t committed to by Labor, meaning the project was now on ice.

“We will certainly be looking at what projects the Labor Party roll out and we will be hoping for support in these regional areas,” she said.

“They need to realised the wealth of this nation comes from the coalfields of Central Queensland, we’ve got the biggest amount of cattle here in the whole of Australia, so there’s a lot of money that comes out of Central Queensland, so the need to cough up and give us our fair share.”

She said she hoped the rise of Greens and Independents voters wouldn’t see a rise in the country city divide.

Capricornia MP Michelle Landry has spoke after being re-elected for a fourth term as MP.

“I think as a Coalition we need to look at where we’re heading, I think policies need to incorporate both the cities and the country areas and I think people in the city areas need to realise where their food comes from and where their electricity comes from,” she said.

“I think we do have that divide there; we’ve got young people that don’t actually understand that the coal that’s used is dug up in Central Queensland and the difficulties our farmers face whether it’s floods or drought.”

Ms Landry said she had received phone calls from constituents worried about the change in government and what it meant for Central Queensland.

“We’ve got difficult times ahead of us, we’ve got international influences going, inflation is rising, Labor may or may not be able to rule in their own right and then they’ve got to deal with the Greens and the teals,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be difficult, I know we had fairly small numbers in the last parliament and you do need to do a lot of negotiations to get independents on side and the Greens.

“It’s not the end of the world, we have a lot of projects that are funded that are starting, that will continue on.

“One thing that does concern me is Labor will probably have their own budget in the next couple of months and they can actually take some of the money for projects out of the budget and wipe them.

“I’m asking all the mayors to support me in this and tell them if they want the projects to go ahead they need to put the pressure on the Labor Party to make sure they don’t pull things out.”

Rockhampton Mayor Tony Williams said no matter the government, council would still continue to advocate for local projects.

“It may mean we need to head to Canberra more often now, but that’s something I and my council would be keen to do,” he said.

“We’re working closely with our neighbours talking about things like defence, that’s something we believe is an important project for our region going forward, we’re keen to work with Livingstone, Gladstone and Central Highlands in that space as well.”

Originally published as Federal Election 2022: Michelle Landry speaks after being re-elected for Capricornia