1
0
The NSW election is done and dusted and the new Labor Premier, Chris Minns, has formed a minority government including two local MPs in his ministry – here’s our analysis of the local results seat-by-seat and booth-by-booth.
By Jacquelene Pearson
Four Labor MPs on the Central Coast – David Harris, David Mehan, Liesl Tesch and Yasmin Catley – achieved resounding re-election victories and Labor candidate Sam Boughton almost stole Terrigal from Liberal incumbent Adam Crouch in the recent NSW State Election.
Mr Crouch’s near-death experience in last month’s election was probably the most headline-grabbing local election news. A closer look at the results in each of the five Central Coast NSW election districts reveals some less obvious trends and lessons.
GOSFORD
Won by: incumbent Labor Member, Liesl Tesch.
Tesch won resoundingly, victorious in 26 out of 30 voting centres on the day of the election. The centres that saw her lose the primary count were: Kulnura Hall, Mangrove Mountain Hall, Peats Ridge Public School and Somersby Public School suggesting she may need to spend more time with her hinterland constituents.
Ms Tesch took the seat with 24,703 primary votes or 50.4 percent of formal votes. She was way ahead of her closest competitor for the seat – Liberal candidate De Bocking who endedc up with 13,881 primary votes or 28.32 percent of the formal ballot papers.
Bocking’s strongest voting centres were the inverse of Tesch’s.
Green’s candidate Hilary Van Haren came third in the contest for Gosford with 4553 votes which represented 9.29 percent of formal votes.
Shooters, Farmers and Fishers secured over 2000 votes in the Gosford race representing 4.22 percent of the formal vote for a candidate who had a very low profile during the campaign.
First-time independent Lisa Bellamy received 1668 votes which represented 3.4 percent of formal votes in the electorate.
The Animal Justice Party and Sustainable Australia Party mopped up the remainder of the votes between them.
Liesl Tesch was not rewarded with a spot in Chris Minn’s first ministry but her hold on Gosford is now extremely comfortable with a two-party preferred margin of 30.78 percent so it will take a mighty big swing for Tesch to lose the seat.
SWANSEA
Won by: incumbent Labor Member Yasmin Catley
Yasmin Catley also achieved a confident victory in Swansea – she was victorious in every single voting centre in the Swansea district on election day.
Catley won a total of 27,943 primary votes which represented 56.53 percent of all formal ballot papers.
Liberal candidate Anderson won 14,590 primary votes or 27.97 percent of the formal votes for Swansea.
The Greens came third in Swansea with 4463 votes representing 8.56 percent of formal ballot papers counted. The Sustainable Australia Party achieved 6.24 percent of formal votes or a total of 3253.
The Liberal Democrats also ran a candidate (Jackson) who won 1918 or 3.68 percent of formal ballots.
Ms Catley has been appointed NSW’s first female Minister for Police in the new Minns Labor Cabinet.
She now holds Swansea on a very healthy two-party-preferred margin of 30.9 percent.
TERRIGAL
Won by: incumbent Liberal member, Adam Crouch
Terrigal was called, prematurely, for Labor candidate Sam Boughton on election night but Adam Crouch held on and made it across the line.
The wash up of the tight, almost titanic, battle for Terrigal was that Adam Crouch won 16 voting centres on election day out of a total of 23.
Mr Crouch ended up with 23,507 total votes which represented 46.58 percent of formal ballot papers.
First-time Labor candidate, Sam Boughton, ended up with 19,703 votes which represented 39.04 percent of the formal votes in the electoral district of Terrigal.
The seat was also contested by the Sustainable Australia Party and the Greens – the former won 2398 votes or 4.74 percent of formal votes and the Greens won 4868 votes or 9.65 percent of the formal vote.
Mr Crouch’s support was particularly sustained in voting centres at Davistown and Saratoga.
The two-party preferred results indicate how close the seat, deemed a safe Liberal seat, has become.
Mr Crouch now holds the seat by a margin of 2.44 percent so it is now ultra-marginal.
THE ENTRANCE
Won by: incumbent Labor member, David Mehan
Six parties competed for The Entrance in last month’s NSW State Election but incumbent Labor Member, David Mehan, came out winner.
Mehan won the primary vote in 24 out of 25 voting centres on election day.
Liberal candidate Nathan Bracken won the Tuggerah Lakes College Tumbi Umbi booth by 55 votes.
David Mehan won 22,153 primary votes in the election which represented 45.03 percent of the total formal vote.
Bracken, in second place won 17,433 votes which represented 35.44 percent of formal votes.
The Greens took third place in the race for The Entrance, they secured 4206 votes or 8.55 percent of the formal ballot.
The Sustainable Australia Party also made a good showing winning 2131 votes or 4.33 percent of formal ballots.
Mr Mehan now holds The Entrance on a very healthy two-party-preferred margin on 15.68 percent – making it a respectably ‘safe’ Labor seat.
In spite of Mr Mehan’s performance, he was not given a ministry by Premier Minns.
WYONG
Won by: incumbent Labor Member, David Harris
The Liberal candidate for Wyong was disendorsed and that made the job a bit easier for incumbent David Harris but Squires still managed to gain 9929 primary votes even if he was not allowed to represent the Liberal party.
Mr Harris, by way of contrast, won 24,575 primary votes which represented 52.24 percent of formal votes in the Wyong electoral district.
He won 25 out of 26 polling places, with Ourimbah his only loss.
One Nation performed well in Wyong winning 6850 primary votes which represented 14.56 percent of the formal votes counted, indicating they may have been considered a sound alternative to the disendorsed Liberal candidate.
Greens candidate Doug Williamson won 3795 votes which represented 8.07 percent of formal votes counted in Wyong.
In terms of the two-candidate preferred figures, Mr Harris now holds Wyong on a margin of 39.68 percent, the greatest margin of the five local electoral districts on the Coast.
That performance may explain why Mr Harris has been appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Gaming and Racing, Medical Research, Veterans and the Central Coast – a super-sized workload for any mortal.
