Latest news with #once-Labor
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Victoria byelections: Liberals claim Greens seat as Allan pledges to ‘do more' after vote dives in Labor heartland
The Greens have conceded the loss of the Victorian state seat of Prahran to the Liberals, while the result in the once-Labor stronghold of Werribee remains too close to call. The Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, said on Sunday the result in the inner-Melbourne seat was close but that it was clear the minor party will 'fall just short' when counting resumes on Monday. 'Obviously it's not the result we had hoped for,' she told said while Greens' primary vote held up, they did not pick up any of Labor voters – despite the party's decision not to field a candidate in the seat. She said the Liberal candidate, Rachel Westaway, benefited from the preferences of the former Labor MP turned independent candidate, Tony Lupton, who received 12.8% of primary votes in the counting on Saturday night. Lupton had instructed voters to preference the Liberals second and Greens last, pushing Westaway to 51.6% in the two-party-preferred vote. Related: Google Maps changed the way we get around. It all began in a spare bedroom in Sydney 'What actually made the difference here is that we had the Labor party make a decision not to run a candidate in Prahran, which left the field open for a former Labor MP and unofficial Labor candidate to run and funnel preferences to the Liberals,' Sandell said. 'To be honest, I think that progressive voters and Labor voters will be pretty disappointed.' Turnout in the byelection was also low. According to the Victorian Electoral Commission, just 64.29% of enrolled voters had their ballot counted as of Saturday evening. Sandell said the low turnout particularly hurt the Greens because a high proportion of young people who rent in the area may have moved since the 2022 election or were away – and there was no option to cast an absentee vote. 'Our primary vote held up despite this [being] a byelection held during the uni summer holidays, when traditionally a lot of young people … weren't around [and] weren't able to vote,' she said. 'It bodes very well for the Greens and I am looking forward to winning back the seat at the general state election next year.' However, Liberal leader Brad Battin credited Westaway's win to her campaign, which focused on crime and cost of living. 'We know that the message from both of these electorates is that they are sick of the Greens and Labor destroying their lives,' Battin said. 'We are very proud that we can claim victory in a seat that many didn't think was possible, just three or four weeks ago.' The premier, Jacinta Allan, on Sunday conceded there was 'more to do' to restore trust in her government after a collapse of support for Labor in Werribee. Both major parties finished Saturday night with less than 30% of the first preference votes, though Labor's John Lister led Liberal Steve Murphy by 441 votes. The former Labor stronghold was previously held by the treasurer Tim Pallas, who retired in December. At the 2022 election he won the seat with a 10.9% margin and 45% first-preference votes. The swing away from Labor now stands at 10.4%, which would be devastating for the party if replicated at the 2026 state election. Allan said 'working people and families across the state' were 'looking to their governments to listen to them and do more to support them, and that's exactly what I will do'. 'We've heard very clearly that people are looking to governments to do more, and we are listening to that and we will,' she said. Voting will continue in the seat on Monday, when the VEC will also conduct recheck counts. Related: Australia's largest childcare provider faces activist pressure to give staff paid parental leave
The Guardian
29-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Warren Mundine backtracks on ‘disrespectful' gender comments after losing preselection battle to woman
The anti-voice campaigner Warren Mundine has walked back earlier comments that Gisele Kapterian had beaten him in a Liberal preselection battle in Sydney's north shore because she was a woman. Mundine on Wednesday dismissed any suggestion the Liberal party have a women problem as a 'sideshow'. He told Guardian Australia he now vowed to do everything possible to get Kapterian elected to federal parliament. Mundine initially congratulated Kapterian on being preselected for the seat of Bradfield but then told ABC news he believed she had triumphed over him because of her gender. 'She is entitled to her views, but I have text messages [from people in the Liberal party] regarding her being a woman,' Mundine said. Kapterian had denounced Mundine's comments as 'disrespectful'. Mundine, the once-Labor national president, told the Guardian on Wednesday that gender of candidates would not be a deciding factor for Australians in the upcoming election. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'They couldn't care if you are Arthur or Martha. They just want a candidate who is going to work for them,' Mundine said. 'My focus is we need to get more Liberals in the parliament. Doesn't matter if they're men, women, Aboriginals or whatever.' Kapterian earlier denounced comments from Mundine that she was preselected for the Liberal-held seat of Bradfield because she is a woman as 'disrespectful'. Mundine, who was also vying for preselection, initially congratulated Kapterian on her success but later told ABC news he believed she had triumphed over him because of her gender. 'She is entitled to her views, but I have text messages [from people in the Liberal party] regarding her being a woman,' Mundine said. Kapterian, the Liberals' centrist candidate for Bradfield and a former staffer to Michaelia Cash and Julie Bishop, beat Mundine's preselection bid in the first round of voting earlier this month, 207 votes to his 171. Kapterian had gained support from senior Liberals – including the deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, former Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey and former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian – to represent the party in its fight against a popular teal candidate at the upcoming federal election. 'I think to suggest I was selected for any reason other than on my merit is disrespectful not only to me and my preselectors, but also for the process itself,' Kapterian told the ABC. Mundine had been backed by fellow leading anti-voice campaigners, including the former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott. Mundine, who lives in the Bradfield electorate, said that Kapterian would be his number one pick at the polls. 'I'll fight for her to be elected. I'll do everything that's physically possible.' Bradfield was the only Liberal-held electorate in the country to return a majority yes vote in the voice referendum. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion On Wednesday, Angus Taylor backed the preselection process, saying Kapterian had won through a 'democratic plebiscite process' based on merit. 'I believe firmly in merit, and what I absolutely love about the democratic process we went through for Bradfield … is that they're democratic processes where our members get to choose the person they want as their candidate and to represent them in this seat,' he said. The Liberal party quietly adopted a 50-50 gender target in 2016. It was reinforced in 2022 after a post-election report by Jane Hume and former federal Liberal director Brian Loughnane recommended the party reach 50-50 representation in parliament by 2032. But efforts to achieve gender parity have been thwarted after the retirements of a number of senior women, plummeting the gender split to decade lows. Women account for less than a third of the party's federal representation with nine MPs in the lower house and 10 in the Senate. But Hume said Kapterian's preselection for Bradfield showed the party's plans to increase gender representation were working. 'It's really important that we have women representing us in the Liberal party at parliamentary level, but also at an organisational level too, pushing them through the race, through to those senior roles,' she said on Wednesday. Bradfield has only ever been held by the Liberals but is fighting off a plummeting primary vote against the rise of independent candidate Nicolette Boele. At the 2022 election Fletcher held the blue-ribbon Bradfield with a 4.23% margin, suffering a 15.3% swing against him, after a strong showing from Boele, who achieved 20.89% of the primary vote. Fletcher, who is retiring from politics, previously held Bradfield on a safe margin of 16.6%. Guardian Australia reached out to Abbott, who declined to comment.
