Well he is planning a Federal tilt then going off that speech.
Any Kiama voters here? Just wondering why someone standing trial for historic sex offences is currently leading the first preference vote…
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I’m just outside of the Kiama electorate, but I live in the area.
He’s hugely popular in the southern Illawarra and Shoalhaven. The main reason for that is because since the Liberals have been in power, they have spent millions of dollars on infrastructure in the Kiama electorate, such as the Princes Highway upgrade, the Albion Park Rail bypass and the new Nowra bridge.
Also, he’s the most outspoken in the media out of all the local members. Most people in the region know who he is (even if they don’t closely follow politics).
I think in the minds of a lot of people, they tend to think he gets on with the job and actually gets things done for the area, which is why he still has a lot of support.
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I’m interested about how the Greens are so strong up towards the Byron/Ballina area when one would normally think it’s in the middle of Nationals heartland (being surrounded by Nationals stronghold all around the area). Instead the Greens have got Ballina and even federally it is a Labor vs Greens contest which would be virtually unheard of otherwise in NSW.
Conversely it’s interesting to see that in Sydney it’s Indepdent Alex Greenwich vs the Liberals when federally it’s been Labor vs Green in the last few election cycles.
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But what about these horrendous accusations and pending charges. Surely the stench of that stuff would stick.
Having lived up that way for a few months 10 years ago, it is very much a melting pot area with a diverse range of groups co-existing in the same region. There’s lots of little towns and villages with strong environmental/green influences (places like Mullumbimby, Bangalow, Byron to an extent and of course the infamous Nimbin), along with places like Lismore and Ballina which are more ‘middle-of-the-road’ regional towns, and finally towns like Casino and Kyogle that are predominately rural conservative. Hence the unusual voting patterns we see up that way and the relative strength of the Green vote.
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Lots of hippies and plenty of inner city folk relocate up there.
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Feels like Labor will hold this national dominance for some time. doubt any of the 2024 elections will flip. If anything it’s Tasmania going for a 4th LNP term in 2025 that is a possibility to flip and give labor a clean sweep.
Fascinating to say the least. Previously I imagined that that area would be a perfect place for a strong independent to gain a foothold (like Indi in Victoria), as purely from a geographical POV it’s an area that you would hardly imagine to be even Labor voters, let alone Greens of all parties. But then again federally Hunter’s been Labor the entire time and that’s a coal mining electorate 
But what @captaincupcake says makes a lot of sense as Ballina seems to be the only Greens seat with virtually everywhere else Nationals. The Greens have been doing a great job in keeping that seat strong for their party.
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I worry about QLD. Anastasia micro manages a few things so people might turn on her. But then again the LNP are full of extremists up there.
Lol wot
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The mismanagement over COVID and the NSW lockdown mess
You’ll find that those are two issues that played a negligible role in this outcome.
Unfortunately, having the highest population densities and most international connections always made NSW (and Victoria) most vulnerable when it came to the risk of Covid outbreaks. It was not a pleasant time by any means, and mistakes were made, but the response was not the train wreck that some made it out to be.
Voters have well and truly moved on to other things, and are generally just glad that those difficult times are over.
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Did you flip a coin or would you like to share your horoscope that you used with us all?
Paul Toole seems to be very sour about the result tonight. Surely he could be a bit more gracious in defeat like Perrottet?
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Helen Dalton, by all accounts, does an excellent job for Murray. If there were a bunch of other challengers like her, I wonder if they could form a sort of leftish equivalent to the Nationals? Bit of a crazy idea, maybe, but it would be good to have a regional party that isn’t made up of corrupt nutjobs.
More Yilmaz videos!
Last night may be a victory for metropolitan areas, but not so much if you live west of the Blue Mountains. If Labor stick to their promises, much-needed infrastructure projects will be canned or “paused” as our labor candidate put it, many times. The much-needed Great Western Highway upgrade, “paused”. Bathurst Private Medical Centre, “paused”.
If previous state labor governments are indicative of future performance, we will be left with scraps.
If Labor really want to cement their legacy west of the Blue Mountains, addressing our region’s critical rental supply, and absurdly high property prices may turn the party’s fortune around in our area.
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Again. Yeah, nah.
Tasmania would be much much worse under the last incarnations of Labor down here and the last Labor/Green government down here was an absolute shit show.
It’s so good having hospitals now not closing and actually being upgraded, schools being built and not forced closures and public transport and highway upgrades. Yep, contrary to popular belief again Labor does mot automatically equate to good and Liberal bad.
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Tasmanian Liberals are fairly moderate and fairly decent from what i’ve heard and seen. Unlike the extremists we’ve seen in Victoria and Queensland.
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Kellie Sloane was elected as the new member for Vaucluse in Sydney’s east in yesterday’s NSW election, replacing retiring MP Gabrielle Upton.
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