Latest news with #JessiePrice
ABC News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Contest for Bean leaves David Smith confronted with something few of Canberra's federal MPs have to deal with
It was the last thing ACT voters expected before this election. Few thought the outcome in any of the contests would remain in doubt for more than a week. But first-time independent Jessie Price brought the result in the electorate of Bean down to the closest ever margin for an ACT House of Representatives seat, currently less than half of one per cent. The previous record was a one per cent margin in the seat of Canberra in 1977. Back then, it was Liberal MP John Haslem who held on narrowly, after riding the landslide which endorsed Malcolm Fraser's government in 1975. The continuing Labor MP in Bean, David Smith, has no such excuse — his party having won a landslide at the very election he came face to face with political mortality. He is now confronted with something few of Canberra's recent federal MPs have had to deal with — a marginal seat to defend. She may have fallen short this time, but the clear expectation is that voters have not seen the last of Jessie Price. Upon conceding defeat, she committed to "keeping an ear out" for the community's thoughts and feelings over the next term, before adding "we'll probably be here again in three years' time". For someone to get so close, it would take a lot for them not to put their hand up again in 2028. By then the Labor government will be three years older, and as with all governments, weathered by all that will occur between now and then. This does not mean she is a shoe-in. Not until the final days of this campaign did Labor seriously worry that Jessie Price could snatch the seat. Next time, the party will leave nothing to chance. Expect a fully-fledged sandbagging campaign to keep a once-safe seat in the fold. The critical change which put Bean in play had little to do with Labor or Jessie Price. It was the almost seven per cent drop in the Liberal vote which opened the door. No doubt many of those defections from the Liberal Party parked their vote with the independent. The question remains whether the defections were temporary, or whether they could be persuaded to vote independent a second time. Even though Canberra's south is traditionally the strongest area for the Liberals, their chances of ever winning Bean themselves are limited, absent an emphatic election win which seems unlikely in 2028. It raises the possibility the Liberals will follow the course Labor has charted in the so-called 'Teal' seats and run dead. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all. It presents an added complication for a Labor MP who fell into the role almost by accident. David Smith initially served in the Senate, appointed by the High Court in 2018 after Katy Gallagher was found ineligible due to her lingering British citizenship. The creation of a third lower house seat for the ACT in 2019 helped keep David Smith in parliament upon his predecessor's return. In the aftermath of the election, he has been at pains to highlight that Labor's primary vote in Bean remained steady at 41 per cent, and it was preference flows which made the seat so close. Be that as it may, the task now will be to increase Labor's primary vote, when the best election to do so has arguably just come and gone. Before this year's campaign began, I observed that major party leaders tend not to spend much time in Canberra on the campaign trail. Something tells me next time will be different.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Major parties barely fend off independent challengers
The major parties appear to have held on to formerly safe seats by the skin of their teeth, but a handful of other electorates remain too close to call. Australians handed Labor a sweeping federal election victory, but several former strongholds looked poised to slip from the party's fingers after independent challengers took the results down to the wire, with less than 100 votes separating the frontrunners at times. But one by one, they fell back into the fold, and on Monday the ABC called the south Canberra and Norfolk Island seat of Bean for Labor candidate David Smith , after a days-long fight against independent Jessie Price. Ms Price hasn't conceded defeat, noting there were still a few thousand votes to count, but she acknowledges a win looked less likely. "Votes are now coming from people outside of the electorate who maybe weren't quite as aware that we had such a different option this election," she told ABC Radio on Monday. "Labor have kind of held on by their fingernails at the end and they are on notice." The blue-ribbon electorate of Bradfield on Sydney's north shore has also gone to a major party after days of counting, with Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian fending off independent Nicolette Boele. It wasn't all bad news for independents. The ABC has called the Melbourne seat of Kooyong for Monique Ryan, giving her a second term. Meanwhile, the Greens have held on to one seat in the lower house after Elizabeth Watson-Brown, the MP for Ryan, beat her Labor challenger. According to the ABC, another four seats remain in doubt, including the southeast Melbourne electorate of Flinders, which was challenged by independent Ben Smith. Monash in eastern Victoria and Longman in Queensland are too close to call, as is Calwell on Melbourne's fringe, where the final pairing of candidates is hard to determine. In the Senate, the coalition appears poised to lose up to five seats to Labor. This could give Labor and the Greens the power to pass legislation without turning to other members of the crossbench. SEAT COUNT IN 2025 FEDERAL ELECTION: THE NUMBERS * Labor - 93 lower house seats (+16 from 2022 election total) as of Monday morning, with 83.5 per cent of votes counted * Coalition - 41 seats (-17) * Greens - 1 seat (-3) * Independents/minor parties - 11 seats (-1) * Undecided - 4 seats * In the Senate, Labor could gain up to five spots from the coalition, with about 76.1 per cent of the upper house ballots counted as of Monday morning WHERE THE COUNT IS UP TO * Labor has 54.67 per cent of the two-party national count with 6,217,274 votes, an increase of 2.54 per cent, the Australian Electoral Commission says * The Liberals have 45.33 per cent of the national vote with 5,155,522 ballots SEATS STILL IN DOUBT * Calwell (Vic) - Labor candidate Basem Abdo leads the outer Melbourne electorate with just over 30 per cent of first preference votes, but two independents with about 12 per cent each make this seat highly complicated. There is a possibility Carly Moore or Joseph Youhana could snowball up preferences and overtake Mr Abdo in the final tally * Longman (QLD) - Labor's Rhiannyn Douglas leads LNP MP Terry Young by 219 votes with almost 85 per cent of the ballots counted * Monash (Vic) - Liberal candidate Mary Aldred appears to have the edge in the regional Victorian seat with 32.1 per cent of the primary vote, but the presence of two strong independents - Deb Leonard and Russell Broadbent - complicate the preference distribution * Flinders (Vic) - Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie has secured a commanding 41.4 per cent of the primary vote but her lead could be at risk if independent Ben Smith finishes in second ahead of Labor's Sarah Race and soaks up Labor and Greens preferences
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Federal election results: Monique Ryan wins Kooyong while Climate 200-backed independent falls short in Bradfield
Independent MP Monique Ryan has won Kooyong in Melbourne, holding off her Liberal challenger, but Nicolette Boele, another Climate 200-backed candidate, is expected to fall short on Sydney's north shore. The ABC's election analyst, Antony Green, on Monday projected that Ryan would maintain her slim lead in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, where she led by about 700 votes with a few thousand left to count. Amelia Hamer gained a 0.3% primary vote swing toward the Liberals in the seat formerly held by ex-Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg until 2022, when he was dethroned by Ryan. Ryan's primary vote increased by 3.3%. In Bradfield, on Sydney's north shore, Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian was projected to defeat second-time challenger Boele by a few hundred votes. Kapterian succeeds the retiring shadow minister Paul Fletcher by holding the seat on a razor-thin margin for the Liberals. Labor was expected to win Bean in the ACT after a surge in support for the independent candidate, Jessie Price, had threatened to knock off Dave Smith. The southern Canberra seat, which was created in 2019, was surprisingly close with Price achieving a primary vote of 26.6% but trailing Smith 49.9% to 50.1% on a two-candidate margin. The Greens would hold on to the Brisbane seat of Ryan after a three-cornered contest with Labor and the Liberals, Green said on Monday. Elizabeth Watson-Brown secured a second term despite suffering a 1.5% drop in first preference votes. The ALP's Rebecca Hack was up almost 6% on her primary vote. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Four seats remained in doubt more than a week after the election due to complicated preference counting. The Liberal-held seats of Monash, Longman and Flinders were yet to be determined, while Labor faced a potential upset in Calwell due to a number of independent challengers running against the first-time candidate Basem Abdo.
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Labor's David Smith retains ACT seat of Bean narrowly defeating independent Jessie Price
Labor's David Smith has retained the southern ACT seat of Bean, narrowly defeating independent candidate Jessie Price in a tight contest. The ABC is projecting Mr Smith will hold the seat for a third term despite a significant swing away from the Liberal Party and towards Ms Price. Results for the seat have been on a knife's edge since the Albanese government's landslide victory on May 3. Mr Smith has 50.09 per cent of the two-candidate preferred (TCP) vote, while independent Jessie Price is sitting on 49.91 per cent — a difference of just 183 votes. But ABC's chief elections analyst Antony Green says Mr Smith won't be overtaken from here.
ABC News
10-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Labor incumbent David Smith edges ahead of independent Jessie Price in ACT seat of Bean
Labor's David Smith has edged ahead of independent challenger Jessie Price in the tight contest for the southern ACT electorate of Bean. Bean is one of just eight electorates where the result remains in doubt following the federal election last weekend. The margin between Mr Smith and Ms Price has remained exceptionally close all week, with Ms Price slightly ahead for most of the time, until now. Mr Smith, who has held the seat since 2019, now leads the two-candidate preferred (TCP) vote by 124 votes. The ABC has stopped using a projection from its election computer, given how advanced the count is, and is now reporting the raw figures provided by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Live results: Find out what's happening in your seat as counting continues The final result will depend on outstanding postal, absentee, and declaration votes. The deadline for the AEC to accept postal votes is Friday, May 16. Mr Smith received the most primary votes, around 41 per cent, compared to Ms Price on just under 27 per cent. Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 federal election coverage Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on ABC iview and ABC Listen
