The ALP has won the seat of Herbert by 37 votes, following a recount that finished this morning.
The ALP’s Cathy O’Toole (pictured) defeated sitting LNP member Ewen Jones, who has held the seat since 2010. O’Toole had 44,187 votes after preferences, to Jones’ 44,150. There was a swing of 6.19% to the ALP.
The ALP’s victory takes it to a final total of 69 seats in the House of Representatives. The Turnbull coalition will have 76 seats and there are 5 crossbenchers.
The 45th Parliament meets for the first time on August 30. After providing a Speaker, the government will have 75 votes on the floor of the House. The ALP and crossbenchers will have 74 votes. Three crossbenchers – Bob Katter, Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie – have committed themselves to supporting the government on Supply and matters of confidence. [Read more…]
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was in Adelaide to claim victory in Hindmarsh with Steve Georganas (pictured), who returns to parliament as the member for the seat he represented between 2004 and 2013. At the close of counting today, the ALP’s lead was 588 votes, or 50.31%. There are 5,514 votes still to count but there is no doubt that Georganas will win. There are only 791 postal votes remaining and 2,663 absentee votes. The ALP is securing 56.06% of the latter.