Coker holds Corangamite as Labor wins election

LIBBY Coker has held the seat of Corangamite for Labor as her party recorded a stunning victory at Saturday’s federal election on the back of a “teal wave” that swept the Liberal Party from office.

Ms Coker had a decisive win over Liberal candidate Stephanie Asher, picking up (as of late Sunday, with nearly 70 per cent of the vote counted) a 3.39 per cent gain on primary votes to be more than 13,000 votes ahead with 58.73 per cent of the two-party preferred vote – a swing of 7.68 per cent compared to the 2019 election.

As counting progressed across the nation on Saturday, it became apparent it was impossible for the Liberal National Coalition to hold or gain enough seats to retain power, and Labor would govern either in majority or minority in the House of Representatives.

Ms Coker addressed hundreds of jubilant supporters at a function at the clubrooms at Burdoo Reserve in Grovedale on Saturday night.

She first thanked Corio Labor federal member Richard Marles – who also won his seat and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister on Monday this week – for his help before and during the campaign.

“I’ve taken a couple of turns to actually win Corangamite, and to win again, hopefully this evening, is a testament to both of us because we’ve been together on this journey,” she said.

“And on the way, what we’ve done is we’ve spoken to people, we’ve listened to our communities, and we understand what you need to get ahead in your life.

“What I really want to see is more care and compassion in government.”

At the Liberal post-election function at the Grovedale Hotel, Ms Asher spoke in front of a much smaller crowd of her supporters and volunteers.

“It doesn’t look like it’s our night tonight, but I really wanted to say thank you so much to all of you,” she said.

“An amazing, amazing effort from all of the volunteers who put on a very strong local campaign. I’m very proud of what we did, we covered a lot of ground.”

She also thanked her family, donors, and Liberal politicians including Sarah Henderson – “what an amazing person, just an absolute machine; she has worked tirelessly for us” – who was re-elected to the Senate in Victoria.

Greens candidate Alex Marshall had an impressive showing with the biggest positive swing of all the Corangamite contenders, attracting 6.64 per cent more primary votes than last time for more than 15 per cent of first preferences.

With 77.4 per cent of the vote counted, Wannon Liberal federal member Dan Tehan suffered a 6.4 per cent negative swing on primary votes to nearly 45 per cent but will likely hold the seat in the face of a strong challenge from independent Alex Dyson, who picked up more than 20 per cent of the primary vote.

“I’m cautiously optimistic as votes continue to be counted,” Mr Tehan said on Monday this week.

“I thank all the other candidates for putting their names forward at this election. Supporting democracy has never been more important.”

The makeup of the government will depend on Labor’s final number of seats – according to the Australian Electoral Commission as of Tuesday this week, Labor is leading in 75, one short of a majority – and the number of crossbenchers, including several teal independents who defeated well-established Liberal MPs such as treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson.