By Charlene Gatt
MARSHA Thomson celebrated victory after winning a second term in the seat of Footscray, but suffered a 10 per cent swing in primary votes.
First-time Liberal Party candidate Ken Betts gained an 8.6 per cent swing on Ms Thomson in the primaries and a 9.1 per cent swing after preferences in a blow to the safe Labor seat.
Greens candidate Janet Rice also performed well against Ms Thomson, snaring an 8.7 per cent swing in her favour.
Ms Rice said the feat was the biggest swing for the Greens in any seat in the state.
“I’m very happy with the result,” she said.
“It was a big change and a massive shake-up of the face of politics in the West.
“The seat is no longer an incredibly safe Labor seat versus the Liberals, it’s now a contestable Green-Labor seat.”
The electorate covers most of the City of Maribyrnong area and parts of Sunshine and Brooklyn and has been in Labor hands since 1927.
Ms Thomson visited all 16 polling places within the electorate during the day and celebrated her win at an election party at the Footscray Community Arts Centre.
Ms Thomson thanked her campaign team, which included Federal MP Nicola Roxon and her office.
“This is not my campaign, it’s our campaign,” she said.
“We’ve done a lot more campaigning than Footscray has ever seen and we have a great team here in the West.
“Don’t fall for any of that nonsense that Labor doesn’t care about the West. The West is our heartland, and we will keep delivering.”
The Labor Party stronghold in the West suffered reduced margins across the board, with a 7.9 per cent swing to the Liberals in the seat of Keilor, a 7.6 per cent swing in Derrimut and a 7.5 per cent swing in the seat of Kororoit.
The celebratory mood was tinged with shock and upset as the Labor Party also lost key seats across the state.
Ms Thomson shed tears over the loss of the seat of Mordialloc, which was held by MP Janice Munt, the mother of one of her campaigners, Katherine.
“We’ve lost some good politicians,” Ms Thomson conceded, vowing that Labor would come back bigger and stronger.
“We were serious with the first campaign too… but we had a lot of big issues this time around, and I hope the electorate will realise that the execution with some things might not have been great, but the policy is.
“What we’re trying to do in the West is making it a great place to live. It is already a great place, but we can make it better.”
The Labor Party has never won four consecutive elections.
Mr Betts did not respond to Star’s request for comment.
