AS we went to print for the 1st April edition, it was still a close call for the Willoughby electorate.
Now in mid-April the outcomes are apparent. As predicted, there was a significant swing against the State Liberal government and Labor gained votes across our communities, as did the Greens and several Independents.
However, we are still Liberal strong with all Local Members including Matt Kean for Hornsby, Alister Henskens for Wahroonga, newly elected Matt Cross for Davidson and Tim James retaining Willoughby.
Congratulations to Tim James on retaining his seat of Willoughby. Since the by-election, Tim worked hard at a grass roots level within his community. He’s constantly seen out and about talking to locals about issues and concerns in his electorate.
A highlight for me during this election campaign was meeting the candidates. In Davidson, The Post held the Meet the Candidate’s forum, and I was able to not only meet, but also hear candidates respond firsthand to questions raised by the community.
I already knew of Independent candidate, Janine Kitson, from when she ran for Bradfield against Paul Fletcher in the Federal election. However, I had never heard Janine speak until this March. She’s a most passionate and incredibly focused woman with a deep connection and knowledge of all the local issues. Janine Kitson received over 11% of the vote and I would like to congratulate her, this is a great result. Equally, Caroline Atkinson was impressive on her feet, and I certainly felt I left knowing so much more about the policies the Greens were proposing and many of them resonated with me.
Davidson was considered one of those ‘safe seats’ and there were no surprises here. Between Janine Kitson and Greens candidate, Caroline Atkinson, each gained more than 11% of votes. Additionally, Labor gained a swing of more than 6%, resulting in Liberals suffering a swing of more than 11% in Davidson.
The Post congratulates Matt Cross in his new role as Liberal Local Member for Davidson.
The community has spoken and it’s clear there will be many areas the new MP will need to familiarise himself with in this new role. He has stated he represents ‘inter-generational change’ and I can’t wait to see how this translates within the community.
And for Hornsby, outgoing NSW Treasurer, Minister for Energy and Environment, Matt Kean has signalled that this election result will see him spend more time with his family and he will not be in the running to replace Dominic Perrottet as the leader of the Liberal Party.
Elected to parliament in 2011, Matt Kean has had a swing of nearly over 9% with Labor gaining a larger vote and surprisingly, One Nation picking up over 7.9%.
At the previous State election in 2019, Kean received 52.5% of first preference votes. This time round he received only 43%. Of the two-candidate preferred he received 58.66%, compared to 66.3% in 2019, so this would understandably be a very disappointing result and present an opportune time to reflect on what went wrong.
What values did Labor and even One Nation present that the constituents of Hornsby found so appealing? Labor candidate, Melissa Hoile, gained nearly 25% of votes with Greens candidate Tania Salitra receiving a very impressive 14.3% of votes.
Finally, for the newly named seat of Wahroonga (formerly Ku-ring-gai), Alister Henskens has been re-elected with 50.5% of votes. Labor candidate Parsia Abedini received over 23% of votes. The question is still hanging in the air as to whether Alister will take the top job replacing Perrottet and I believe he is the likely choice.
Independent candidate, Kristyn Haywood received 9.3% of votes and this is a significant dent in the Liberal hold for Wahroonga. Again, it was a pleasure to move around the community during the campaign and meet these new candidates. I was struck by Kristyn’s strong stand for Wahroonga, her voice for women and her passion for the environment.
This election saw Parsia Abedini not only vote for the first time, but also stand for election, that’s incredibly brave and I have every confidence we will see him again.
This election was a clear slap in the face to the Liberal party. However, I will say that there was a great sense of comradery across the candidates that I visited, banding together on issues that have gone unresolved across the community, and that was heartening.
For The Post, we have heard these results and we will be balancing columnists moving forward by inviting columns from some of the passionate candidates we have seen gain so much support within the community.
