Labor’s Maxine McKew has triumphed over John Howard in the Sydney electorate of Bennelong.
McKew has secured a swing of 5.79% and is now polling 51.66% of the two-party-preferred vote, a lead of 2,439 votes. It is almost impossible to imagine this lead being overturned by postal and absentee votes.
McKew joins a club of two candidates who have defeated a prime minister in his own electorate.
In 1929, Stanley Melbourne Bruce’s Nationalist Party-Country Party government was defeated at the October 12 election. The key issue was industrial relations changes. Bruce was also defeated in his Melbourne seat of Flinders by the ALP’s Edward James (Ted) Holloway.
Bruce regained Flinders at the 1931 election. Holloway transferred to Melbourne Ports, holding the seat until 1951. Bruce died on August 25, 1967, aged 84. Holloway died on December 3, 1967, aged 92.
