By Kirsty Ross
WILLIAMSTOWN MP Steve Bracks will become Victoria’s longest serving Labor premier, after he was elected for a third historic term.
The Premier cruised to victory locally, taking 62.7 per cent of the primary vote, and about 75 per cent in the two party preferred count.
He declared his victory in front of about 500 party faithful at the Williamstown Italian Social Club on Saturday night – a venue his electorate officer Lee Casey selected.
With the majority of the votes counted, the Liberals only managed a one per cent swing. The Liberals had needed a swing of 25.7 per cent to unseat Mr Bracks.
Liberal candidate Alan Evers-Buckland secured 20 per cent of the primary count, a slightly better result than 18.8 per cent in the 2002 election.
Mr Evers-Buckland said he believed the seat would one day become marginal.
“I would have liked to have brought it back to be a marginal seat, because things get done in marginal seats,” he said.
Mr Bracks spent election day campaigning in the eastern suburbs after dropping into Williamstown Primary School to cast his vote.
The Premier made his grand entrance to the social club a little later than expected, around 9.30pm, with his wife Terry and three children.
The elated family snaked their way through the adoring crowd, past well wishers to the stage where the ecstatic Mr Bracks thanked his voters and supporters.
“Thanks for the trust, I can say it won’t be misplaced. It’s a credit to all those that have worked to achieve this,” he said.
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Mr Bracks outlined education and tackling climate change as key priorities for his third term.
The speech attracted criticism by the Federal Government, for claiming victory was a result of its campaign against industrial relations legislation and climate change.
He stayed for about an hour, before moving onto a nearby private house for a party where he and a close circle of friends partied until the wee hours of the morning.
Because of the expected overwhelming re-election of Mr Bracks, only a small slice of the voting pie was up for grabs.
Greens candidate Michael Faltermaier recorded a 2 per cent swing, with more than 12 per cent of the primary vote.
Family First’s Veronica Hayes managed the result she had hoped for with 4.4 per cent of the vote.
Independent Wajde Assaf secured just 0.8 per cent of the votes.
