Latest news with #AndrewConstance
ABC News
05-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Liberal candidate Andrew Constance concedes defeat in Gilmore, reveals heart attack
Liberal candidate Andrew Constance, who campaigned against Labor's renewable energy platform, has conceded defeat, admitting Australians have spoken on the energy transition and his party needs to be "pro-environment". The former NSW transport minister contested the NSW south coast seat a second time after narrowly losing to Fiona Phillips by just 373 votes in 2022. Election essentials: With more than 80 per cent of the vote counted, the Labor incumbent has comfortably held the seat and extended her margin due to a more than 7 per cent drop in support for Mr Constance. On election night, Mr Constance said he would not concede his apparent loss to Ms Phillips until pre-poll had been counted. But today, Mr Constance admitted defeat and reflected on some of the missteps during the campaign. "The things around workplace flexibility and working from home and telling the world we're going to sack 41,000 people … it all adds up," he said. " To be honest, we probably looked a little mean. " 'A lot of work to do' Mr Constance, who identifies as a moderate-progressive, was a vocal critic of Labor's renewable energy rollout on the campaign trail. He sharply criticised plans to establish a domestic offshore wind industry and supported the Coalition's nuclear policy. In the wake of the Coalition's massive election defeat, he admitted that the "community has spoken on the energy transition" and said the party needed to work on its environment policies. "Everyone coming together is really important — be a Liberal first and foremost, be a progressive or conservative underneath that, but get the best out of each other," Mr Constance said. " We're not an anti-environment party, we should be a pro-environment party. " Andrew Constance addresses his supporters on election night. ( ABC Illawarra: Kelly Fuller ) Gilmore had one of the highest pre-poll numbers in the state, with 64,616 people opting to vote early out of the 129,095 registered voters, a total of more than 50 per cent. Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on Mr Constance said the party had failed to connect with young voters and women. "The Liberal party is going to have to work hard to find its heart and soul again," he said. "We have let the women of Australia down, quite frankly. "We have a lot of work to do to re-engage the aspirations of young people, and women in particular." Andrew Constance says the Liberal Party must reconcile its progressive and conservative wings if it wants to move forward. ( ABC Illawarra: Romy Gilbert ) Mr Constance confirmed he would not seek to challenge Gilmore a third time and would instead be looking for a job in the corporate sector. 'Scary' heart surgery The longtime state MP also revealed he had a significant health scare in August last year, suffering a heart attack and undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft. Photo shows An election sign of Wil Anderson in a neighbourhood with a dog urinating on it with Gruen Nation Election edition and iview. This election season politicians have tried to sell you the world. The team at Gruen isn't about to buy it. They've taken a big swing at the election, showing you how the democracy sausage is made, all the sizzle and none of the meat. "It was scary, really scary," Mr Constance said. "I had three blocked arteries, one at 99 per cent, one at 70 per cent, one at 40 per cent," he said. He said he said the operation took its toll over the lengthy campaign period. "I felt incredibly fatigued for about three months before I had it [the heart attack]," he said. "I am using today to say it clearly … there's too many people walking around with a silent killer in their body without knowing. "Look after yourself, look after your health." Loading Having trouble seeing this form? Try
Sky News AU
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Independent candidate for Gilmore Kate Dezarnaulds blasted for describing Berry as 'miserable, backwards retirement village' in email
Liberal candidate for Gilmore Andrew Constance has delivered a damning assessment of independent candidate Kate Dezarnaulds after a "poorly worded" email she sent about a town in the electorate was leaked. The email which was sent by Ms Dezarnaulds to Shoalhaven Council employees on May 29 last year, was acquired by The Daily Telegraph. In the message, the independent and former Berry Business Chamber president delivered some choice words for the regional town. "My term as president finishes in August and I cannot wait to get the hell out of this miserable, backwards retirement village," she said. The Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Gilmore, Andrew Constance, stood up for Berry residents in response to the almost year-old email, as he aims to break Labor's Fiona Phillips' six-year hold on the electorate. "Berry is not a miserable, backwards retirement village. It is a beautiful community with amazing people, incredible volunteers. Our seniors community don't deserve this type of attitude out of a Climate 200, Simon Holmes a Court-backed candidate," he told Sky News on Tuesday. "We're a harmonious community, and obviously caught out with what she said. We will continue to fight hard, as I have always done, to make sure our local communities are not maligned, and that's what's happened here. "It's a matter for her, we're just going to get on and continue to work with great communities." Locals were outraged over the independent's remarks, taking to a community page on Facebook to voice their opposition to voting for her. 'She is nothing more than a miserable, backward, fowl (sic) candidate who thinks she is self righteous and above the law – not a candidate you want to represent you!' one said. 'Bagging retirees who have self-funded their sunset years, while she runs for office on someone else's money,' another posted. Others defended the Gilmore candidate, saying the email had been taken out of context. "She wasn't (knocking the town). She was talking about the committee she was volunteering in," one said. "While Kate's comments are unfortunate and she has admitted the error, I think everyone needs to look at the bigger picture and all the amazing things she has done and is going to do for our community," another said. Ms Dezarnaulds admitted to the Daily Telegraph her comments in the email were "poorly worded" but they were part of a broader context in which she was frustrated after stonewalling by Shoalhaven City Council over requests for transparency about community asset management. 'Anyone familiar with the dynamics of Berry's community groups will understand the occasional frustrations felt by those pushing for positive change against the resistance of a very vocal minority of our mostly wonderful retired residents," she said. She also hit out at the Liberal Party for attempting to stir outrage against her from locals days out from the election. 'If that's the worst they can find about me on the eve of a federal election, the people of Gilmore should sleep as soundly as I do,' she said.
Sky News AU
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Anti-nuclear protesters appear at Dutton campaign event in Gilmore, NSW, clashing with voters and delaying press conference
Peter Dutton's campaign event in the ultra-marginal seat of Gilmore has been interrupted by wild anti-nuclear protesters, causing the Opposition Leader's press conference to be delayed. The Opposition Leader appeared in Sanctuary Point, on the NSW south coast to announce $3.5 million for upgraded stadium facilities at a local football club. But the event, which featured the local junior football team was hijacked by at least three individuals dressed in white radiation suits with nuclear symbols on the back, using Geiger counters. Mr Dutton was scheduled to hold a press conference at the football ground, but the protest impacted plans with the leader and Liberal candidate for Gilmore Andrew Constance postponing the media event. One of the protesters, South Coast Labor Council Secretary Arthur Roriss, said they were 'alerting people as to Australia's nuclear future'. 'We're just suited up for our own protection here,' Mr Roriss told the media. 'This is what the future looks like under a Dutton government … get used to the face masks, get used to the radiation suits folks because this is energy in Australia under a Dutton government.' He said they 'represent the workers that Mr Dutton expects to subject themselves to danger'. 'We haven't forgotten Fukushima, we haven't forgotten Chernobyl … it's working people and working class communities that pay the price.' The union leader's comments echo scare campaigns run by the Labor Party on the safety of nuclear energy which has been widely rubbished. A furious football coach confronted Mr Roriss, telling him, 'you're an absolute muppet mate, for showing up and doing this.' 'The kids here want to play sport … you are absolute idiots.' 'You're a muppet mate.' Two locals from Nuclear for Australia also hit out at the protesters, slamming them as being ignorant about the facts on nuclear. 'I think this is ridiculous … they're ignorant, they don't know the facts and they're just scaremongering,' one man told Sky News. The woman with him blasted the activists' remarks as 'ridiculous' and 'untruth'. The man added: 'Every developed country in the world has got nuclear, never been an issue … there have been accidents of course, I'm not silly, but modern technology, there are all the safeguards and that.' 'We should have it as part of the mix.' Liberal candidate for Gilmore Andrew Constance condemned the protesters' actions, saying they were there to 'completely destroy an incredible community event'. 'This is the behaviour of the Labor party, we're going to put community first in this election, Labor about themselves,' Mr Constance said.
The Age
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
How a sense of betrayal brought a major complication to a battleground seat
It is a balmy mid-morning on the NSW south coast and, in the seat of Gilmore, Liberal candidate Andrew Constance is on very dangerous ground: a footy field under the gaze of TV cameras. This was early in the campaign, days before Liberal leader Peter Dutton brained a cameraman with a Sherrin in Darwin ('Got him,' he said unhelpfully as the ball connected) and a full parliamentary term after then-prime minister Scott Morrison laid out a kid called Luca with a rugby tackle in the midst of a game of soccer. Constance announces a bundle of money for improvements at the ground should the Coalition win government, and then engages in a kickaround with Liberal senator Andrew Bragg and members of the Batemans Bay Seahawks, who have been bounced from school for the event. The candidate, the kids and the media survive unscathed. Watching from the sideline, as she works a mobile phone, is Marise Payne, former foreign affairs minister, who is managing Constance's campaign. 'We've been close for 20 years,' he will later tell me. Gilmore has become a key battleground. In the last election, Constance, a high-profile former state member for Bega, overcame Coalition infighting during preselection to secure a 2.5 per cent swing towards him, even as the Coalition suffered a 5.3 per cent drift the other way. He came within a hair's breadth of winning. In the end, Labor's Fiona Phillips won by just 373 votes in a seat declared days after election day, securing the party's 77th seat and delighting Anthony Albanese, who was able to form a majority government as a result. This time around there is another complication. Kate Dezarnaulds, a businesswoman from Berry who has won the support of Climate 200, has thrown her hat in the ring, making Gilmore one of the few seats in the nation where a teal independent is running against an incumbent Labor MP. Should Dezarnaulds – her campaign website explains it is pronounced 'de-zar-know' – win, she would not only be knocking off a government member, she'd be depriving the Coalition of a crucial seat. Her intrusion serves to highlight another intriguing factor, the evanescent role of climate change and the environment in this election. Both parties have been accused of being AWOL on both issues.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
How a sense of betrayal brought a major complication to a battleground seat
It is a balmy mid-morning on the NSW south coast and, in the seat of Gilmore, Liberal candidate Andrew Constance is on very dangerous ground: a footy field under the gaze of TV cameras. This was early in the campaign, days before Liberal leader Peter Dutton brained a cameraman with a Sherrin in Darwin ('Got him,' he said unhelpfully as the ball connected) and a full parliamentary term after then-prime minister Scott Morrison laid out a kid called Luca with a rugby tackle in the midst of a game of soccer. Constance announces a bundle of money for improvements at the ground should the Coalition win government, and then engages in a kickaround with Liberal senator Andrew Bragg and members of the Batemans Bay Seahawks, who have been bounced from school for the event. The candidate, the kids and the media survive unscathed. Watching from the sideline, as she works a mobile phone, is Marise Payne, former foreign affairs minister, who is managing Constance's campaign. 'We've been close for 20 years,' he will later tell me. Gilmore has become a key battleground. In the last election, Constance, a high-profile former state member for Bega, overcame Coalition infighting during preselection to secure a 2.5 per cent swing towards him, even as the Coalition suffered a 5.3 per cent drift the other way. He came within a hair's breadth of winning. In the end, Labor's Fiona Phillips won by just 373 votes in a seat declared days after election day, securing the party's 77th seat and delighting Anthony Albanese, who was able to form a majority government as a result. This time around there is another complication. Kate Dezarnaulds, a businesswoman from Berry who has won the support of Climate 200, has thrown her hat in the ring, making Gilmore one of the few seats in the nation where a teal independent is running against an incumbent Labor MP. Should Dezarnaulds – her campaign website explains it is pronounced 'de-zar-know' – win, she would not only be knocking off a government member, she'd be depriving the Coalition of a crucial seat. Her intrusion serves to highlight another intriguing factor, the evanescent role of climate change and the environment in this election. Both parties have been accused of being AWOL on both issues.
