By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THE safe Liberal seat of Flinders has remained blue ribbon, despite a 4.87 per cent swing to Labor after preferences.
Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate Carolyn Gleixner told voters on Facebook “we achieved an incredible feat” on election day.
As did Ben Wild of the Animal Justice Party, gaining 4.3 per cent of votes, as of Monday, with 96.37 per cent of the votes counted.
Ms Gleixner, 26, unsuccessfully ran against Nepean MP Martin Dixon (Liberal) in the 2014 state election but this year told voters: “I’ll be back.”
Despite this year’s loss to incumbent MP and Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, a very pleased Ms Gleixner told The News “we were expecting to make an impact”.
“Even after only 78.6 per cent of the vote has been counted, we have increased our swing by 4.9 per cent (after preferences), which constitutes approximately 5000 votes,” she wrote on Facebook On Sunday 3 July.
“It just seemed like voters really wanted change, but in addition to that we have an older population who do seem to have continued their voting strategies.”
Mr Hunt, who grew up in Mornington has held the seat for 15 years and said he was honoured to be re-elected as member.
“The task now is to deliver on the commitments we have made and to fight for other important projects in the electorate, such as the development of Rosebud Hospital,” he said.
“I am pleased that Chris Crewther has been elected as the Member for Dunkley. I think he will be a tremendous local member.”
But Ms Gleixner said it was Mr Hunt’s party that took the beds out of Rosebud Hospital in the first place.
“Greg Hunt was the one who made the cuts – it seems conflicting, I’m wondering why they are being put back.”
“People have been very disappointed with the current Flinders Member and they were expressing that on many different occasions to me on election day and at pre-poll,” she said.
During her campaign Australian Greens candidate for Flinders, Willisa Hogarth, said many voters were swinging Green for the first time. However the count on July 2 did not reflect what she had hoped for.
In Flinders the Greens scored 10.7 per cent of the primary vote but were hoping to grasp 12 per cent.
“When you really look at results Ben Wild of the Animal Justice Party has done an amazing job, we know a lot of his voters would have voted Greens at the last election and we are thrilled for him,” Ms Hogarth said.
The 34-year-old mother of three from Pakenham and Greens State Convenor said Cowes saw a big swing in Greens votes in the Flinders electorate.
The Liberals retained 57 per cent of the overall Flinders votes to Labor’s 43 per cent and Ms Hogarth said it was not a huge majority.
“Greg Hunt hasn’t got a great hold on his majority, he’s going to have to work a lot harder to keep his seat,” she said.
“But hopefully that means Flinders gets better resources – I’m hoping things on his agenda will be extending Rosebud Hospital, putting actual rangers in conservation parks and put it to the state to get a high school in San Remo.”
