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RE-ELECTED Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters says she “wouldn’t be surprised” if Australia heads back to the polls within 18 months as the country continues to wait on the shape of the next parliament.
The Coalition believes it can form a majority government without relying on cross bench support, but will have the negotiate with a Senate including multiple seats for Pauline Hanson, as well as Fred Nile, Derryn Hinch and Jacqui Lambie.
Ms Chesters, who claimed victory in Bendigo at 7.50pm, said the Coalition was divided and would struggle to form a stable government.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we were back at the polls within 18 months, maybe a bit longer, maybe a bit sooner,” she said.
“The senate reforms have backfired on the government – all of the major parties have gone backwards in the senate.
“We now have Pauline Hanson winning a seat, whose campaign was based on misinformation and lies.”
In Bendigo, the swing to Labor was 2.58 per cent – lower than the overall national swing of 3.2.
Ms Chesters said Labor achieved strong swings in seats similar to Bendigo, like Longman in Queensland and Bass in Tasmania. These seats contain similar demographics to Bendigo.
“These include low income areas where people are really worried about jobs and education, very similar to Bendigo,” she said.
“This is the reason why Labor has come back so strongly in half of the country.”
Having claimed victory, it will be back to business as usual for Ms Chesters. She will attend the Bendigo Thunder game this afternoon – where she is the number one ticket holder – before playing a part in NAIDOC Week events.
Ms Chesters said media speculation over Bill Shorten’s leadership of the Labor Party had no substance.
“It’s not going to happen,” she said.
“At the last election, we had serious swings against Labor because of instability. We are not going to go back to that, it’s nothing but media speculation.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to my emails to help people out who are worried about health costs.”
The Nationals’ Damian Drum was yet to claim victory in Murray, but he held a strong 5 per cent lead over Liberal candidate Duncan McGauchie. Mr Drum will wait on pre-poll results before declaring victory.
In McEwen, Labor MP Rob Mitchell beat out gaffe-prone Liberal candidate Chris Jermyn, leading by more than 8 per cent.