Tara Murray
Brimbank and the north-west of Melton will remain Labor heartland despite swings against the party in local seats in the state election on Saturday.
Sydenham MP Natalie Hutchins, St Albans MP Natalie Suleyman and Niddrie MP Ben Carroll have all been re-elected, while former Tarneit MP Sarah Connolly will represent the new seat of Laverton and Luba Grigorovitch is the new Kororoit MP.
Ms Hutchins had received 43.9 per cent of the first preference votes after 72.5 per cent of the count, a swing of -17.3 per cent. On two-party preferred, Hutchins leads 58.3 per cent to 41.7 per cent, a swing of 9.4 per cent away from Labor.
Mr Carroll had 57.39 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis in Niddrie, with 70 per cent of the votes counted, a swing of -5.1 per cent from Mr Carroll.
After 70 per cent of the votes were counted, Mr Carroll had received 45.30 per cent of first preferences, a negative swing of 9.6 per cent from the last election.
He said he’s relieved and very proud and highlighted the new proposed train station at Keilor East as the key project he fought for.
“I’m sitting pretty well compared to some of the other electorates,” he said. “I’ve overwhelmingly been re-endorsed with a similar margin, with only a little bit of skin,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to the next four years.”
Ms Suleyman, who has held the seat of St Albans since 2014, received 44.3 per cent of the first preference votes, down 16.3 per cent from the last election after 63.9 per cent of the votes had been counted.
Liberal candidate and Brimbank councillor Maria Kerr had received 25.5 per cent of first preferences.
Ms Kerr said on social media that herself and fellow councillor and independent candidate Virginia Tachos had aimed to make the seat marginal and the swing against Ms Suleyman was a win for the entire community.
In Kororoit, there was an 18.2 per cent swing away from Labor, but Ms Grigorovitch still received 45.19 per cent of the first preference vote and 64.9 per cent of the two-candidate preferred count after 54.3 per cent of the votes had been counted.
Ms Connolly she said it was an honour to be the first Laverton MP.
With just over half the votes counted, Ms Connolly has secured 46.50 per cent of first preferences, while Liberal candidate Raja Reddy had received 22.42 per cent.
