Two fledgling political parties have secured seats in the Northern Victoria region of the upper house.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Victorian Electoral Commission on Tuesday declared all results for the legislative council, confirming the election of Tim Quilty, a Wodonga-based Liberal Democrat and Tania Maxwell, of Wangaratta, who stood for Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.
The Liberal Democrats, led by outspoken Senator David Leyonhjelm, formed in Australia in early 2001 while Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party first registered for federal elections in 2016.
The two MPs replace the Nationals’ Luke O’Sullivan and Daniel Young from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.
Related:
Labor retained its two seats in Northern Victoria, with new agriculture minister Jacyln Symes re-elected, while Mark Gepp, who spent some of his childhood in Bendigo, was also elected for the party.
Liberal Party stalwart Wendy Lovell, who was first elected in 2006, retained her seat.
The Greens push to secure a first regional Victorian MP proved unsuccessful, with Macedon Ranges based lawyer Nicole Rowan missing out after preferences.
Despite polling 6.2 per cent of the primary vote – more than the Liberal Democrats and Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party – Ms Rowan failed to win a seat.
Labor preferenced two candidates from the Aussie Battler party and a further two from the Liberal Democrats ahead of Ms Rowan, who had previously said the upper house voting system needed to be reformed.
She suggested the proportional representation system used in the upper house was problematic and didn’t reflect the will of the people.
“If someone can get eight per cent of the vote and doesn’t get elected and someone else gets 0.3 per cent and does, it’s not referencing the will of the people,” she said.
Mr Young polled close to eight per cent of the primary vote in the upper house, but failed to get elected.
Meanwhile, Labor is considering appealing the State Election result in the lower house seat of Ripon – where Liberal MP Louise Staley was declared winner by 15 votes after a recount – to the Court of Disputed Returns.
A petition would have to be filed within 40 days, meaning the latest date for lodgement with the Supreme Court for the 2018 State Election would be January 24, 2019.
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.
