Denis Napthine has conceded defeat in the Victorian election and has annouced that he is stepping as party leader.
He has phoned the new premier Labor’s Daniel Andrews. The mood is solemn at the Liberal party’s event at the Grand Ballroom.
Dr Napthine and his Coalition have been dumped from office, becoming Victoria’s first single-term government in over half a century.
Mr Andrews will lead the new Victorian goverment after voters rejected Dr Napthine’s $27 billion pipeline of infrastructure projects, a triple-A credit rated economy and budget surplus.
The Age has called 46 seats for Labor, 37 for the Coalition and one for the Greens. Four seats are too close to call – Shepparton, South Barwon, Frankston and Prahran.
Not since Labor’s defeat in 1955, on the back of the party’s great split, has there been a single-term government in Victoria.
After trailing in polls for weeks, there was a late surge in support for the Coalition and election-eve polls suggested the result could go down to the wire.
But the writing was on the wall come election day, with exit polls pointing to a Labor victory
History has been made with Ellen Sandell to be the first state MP for the Greens after winning a 10 per cent swing in first preferences the seat of Melbourne.
Ms Sandell will be the first Greens representative to sit in the legislative assembly, with the possibility the party will make further lower house gains in Richmond and Brunswick.
Greens supporters filled an inner-city bar to celebrate the Party’s long-awaited victory in Melbourne, which came without the help of preferences from the Liberals.
Prahran could do something extraordinary – swing straight from a Liberal to a Greens representative.
Labor candidate Neil Pharoah says he is “hopefully confident but very nervous”.
On a two-party preferred basis Labor has a narrow victory with 51.17 per cent. However, the Greens have polled extremely well and at the moment Labor is trailing the Greens by 25 votes, according to the VEC. If Labor does not pull ahead when the early votes are counted the seat will go the Greens.
The inner-city seat of Brunswick sits on a knife’s edge, with Greens candidate Dr Tim Read giving Labor’s Jane Garrett a run for her money.
In an electorate where transport and planning have dominated the discussion, it seems Labor’s last-minute decision to scrap the East-West Link may have saved Ms Garrett her seat.
Labor is looking close to a four-seat sweep of the Geelong region.
Liberal member for Burwood Graham Watt looks to have held onto his seat despite a scare from popular Labor candidate Gavin Ryan.
Labor is headed towards victory in the key sandbelt seats of Carrum, where Sonya Kilkenny looks like defeating Liberal incumbent Donna Bauer.
Candidates for Cranbourne are expecting a close night, although Liberal candidate Geoff Ablett said during the day he expected negativity towards this year’s federal budget to cost him votes.
The sitting Labor MP Jude Perera is aiming to secure a fourth term. He entered the race with a 1.1 per cent margin after redistribution.
Labor is headed towards victory in the key sandbelt seats of Carrum, where Sonya Kilkenny looks like defeating Liberal incumbent Donna Bauer.
“We are quietly optimistic at this stage. It’s looking quite good, certainly for Carrum and for a number of seats along the Frankston line,” Ms Kilkenny says.
As rumours swirled that Frankston independent MP Geoff Shaw had conceded defeated, the man himself was quietly sipping on a beer with a couple of supporters at the Ballam Park Cricket Club.
“Conceded?” he asked, looking confused. He explained that he wouldn’t be conceding defeat at any time, as he would let the numbers do the talking.
“I haven’t been defeated. Life goes on. It’s all a win for me.”
“The score will be the official thing. The score’s the score.”
– With Tim Colebatch, Jason Dowling, Tom Cowie, Adam Cooper, Lucy Battersby, Richard Willingham, Larissa Nicholson, Virginia Millen
This story first appeared in The Age
