By NATALIE GALLENTI
CITY of Melton residents will continue to live in a safe Labor seat, despite a 6.8 per cent swing to the Coalition.
In last Saturday’s Federal election, Labor’s Brendan O’Connor easily retained the seat of Gorton which he has held since 2004.
At the time Star went to press, Mr O’Connor held a commanding lead over Liberal candidate Phil Humphreys, having claimed 51 per cent of the primary vote and 66 per cent after preferences.
Mr O’Connor was heading into the home stretch with a whopping 36,285 (52 per cent) first preference votes while Mr Humphreys was lagging behind with 17,239 or 24.7 per cent.
After preferences, Labor received 46,682 votes compared to 23,123 for the Liberals – a margin of 23,559.
In an electorate with 102,122 voters, Greens candidate Dinesh Jayasuriya received 4,390 votes – a swing against the party of more than 2 per cent. The Palmer United Party was well supported with 4,371 votes.
Labor managed to comfortably hold on to all five seats in the western suburbs despite the Liberal Party’s victory.
Mr O’Connor said it was an honour to be re-elected as the Federal Member for Gorton and thanked local residents for their continued support. He also vowed to continue to advocate on the issues that matter to the western suburbs.
“I look forward to continuing my work representing the interests of Melbourne’s West in the life of the 44th Parliament ahead,” Mr O’Connor said.
“I am very proud of our record of achievement in office and the strong results we’ve delivered for our local community.
“We’ve rolled out the National Broadband Network to many suburbs in the electorate, with remaining suburbs progressively coming online soon.”
Mr O’Connor also said Labor provided a record level of funding for local community projects, parks and libraries, including the Balmoral Park project in Derrimut, Sassella Park in Deer Park, and the new state-of-the-art Melton Library and Learning Hub.
“These are strong outcomes and I am proud to have delivered real results for our local community. Only Labor governments invest in the West.”
With the Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott set to become Australia’s new Prime Minister, voters in the safe Labor heartland of Melbourne ’s western suburbs will be represented in the Federal Opposition for the next few years.
In the electorate of Maribyrnong, which covers Kealba, Keilor East, St Albans and Sunshine North, Labor minister Bill Shorten retained his seat.
With more than 62 per cent of the votes on a two-party preferred basis, there was a swing of 5.3 per cent to the Liberal Party’s Ted Hatzakortzian.
In the Calwell electorate, which takes in Keilor, Keilor Downs, Tullamarine, Taylors Lakes and Sydenham, Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou netted 64.2 per cent of the vote.
On a two-party preferred basis, there was a swing of 5.9 per cent to the Liberal candidate Ali Khan.
In the Gellibrand electorate, which includes the suburbs of Albion, Ardeer, Brooklyn, Sunshine and Sunshine West, Labor’s Tim Watts took home 66.8 per cent of the votes.
However, there was a swing of 7.3 per cent in favour of the Liberal candidate David McConnell on a two-party preferred basis.
