Upper Hunter byelection: National party on track to hold seat in crucial NSW vote
Upper Hunter #UpperHunter
Labor has conceded to the Nationals in the NSW Upper Hunter byelection.
“Earlier this morning, I phoned David Layzell to congratulate him on his election as the next member for Upper Hunter,” ALP candidate Jeff Drayton said in statement.
“Obviously, David and I don’t agree on many things but we both have the best interests of the Upper Hunter at heart. I wish David and his family all the best as he starts this new role.”
The Nationals were on track to hold the seat for the NSW coalition, defying expectations of a swing against the government in the crucial byelection.
NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro trumpeted a victory on Saturday evening.
“It was the whole world versus Dave Layzell and tonight the booth counts have come in and we’ve been rewarded with the support of the people and the voters of the Upper Hunter,” he said on his Facebook page.
Layzell has not claimed victory.
Counting of the votes resumed at 9am on Sunday. With more than 30,000 votes counted, Layzell had 31.22% of first preference votes, with Labor’s Jeff Drayton on 20.83%.
Postal votes could be returned as late as Wednesday. The outcome of preference counts may not be known for some days.
The Nationals had held the seat by 2.6% before MP Michael Johnsen’s resignation over sexual assault allegations and a sexting scandal prompted the byelection. Johnsen denies the allegations and has not been charged.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull congratulated the National party on Twitter for retaining the seat. He said it was a tribute to the great work of the NSW Liberal government through the pandemic.
Barilaro told Sky News on Sunday the result was a repudiation of the Labor party and Turnbull, who had endorsed independent candidate Kirsty O’Connell.
Video: ‘The Nats are back’: Barilaro confident of Nationals victory in Upper Hunter byelection (Sky News Australia)
‘The Nats are back’: Barilaro confident of Nationals victory in Upper Hunter byelection
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O’Connell, a fifth-generation farmer from near Muswellbrook, was one of the only candidates in the race calling for a moratorium on new coalmines and calling for the Hunter’s economy to diversify.
Barilaro said he’d been assisted by premier Gladys Berejiklian’s popularity. The federal government’s announcement this week that it would bankroll a new gas power plant in the Hunter was also timely, he admitted.
Related: Labor demands government release business case for $600m Hunter Valley gas plant
The major parties had been sweating on the result, which was destined either to push the Berejiklian government into minority or increase pressure on Jodi McKay as opposition leader.
Her position has been under pressure and the likely failed result could force her leadership to the brink.
The Labor leader has struggled to make any impression on voters in NSW despite the government there being beset by a string of controversies, and polling released in the final week of the campaign showed that a majority of Labor voters preferred the Coalition’s Berejiklian as premier.
The byelection contest centred on the future of coalmining in the region, with the Greens’ Sue Abbott wanting to move the region away from its reliance on coal.
But Labor and the Nationals have talked up their coal credentials and Labor’s Drayton is a former coalminer.
In a last-ditch appeal to voters, Drayton said he would fix years of neglect suffered under the Nationals, who have held the seat for more than 90 years.
On Sunday morning the deputy federal Labor leader, Richard Marles, played down what impact the result of the NSW Upper Hunter byelection could have on a federal poll due in the coming year.
Marles said federal Labor will have a good look at the result. “I wouldn’t be rushing to overreact to the result last night,” he told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program. “Ultimately, the incumbent won.”
He said this was a state byelection where there were a lot more independents than there would be in a general election, which had spread the primary vote.
But Barilaro said he believed Saturday’s election set up the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to capture seats in the Hunter region.
“These seats are up for grabs, the whole lot, anything in the Hunter, on the Central Coast, in Newcastle, all that region,” he told Sky News. “I tell you what, ScoMo with his ability, the right candidates, the right policy settings, I think they can strip some seats off the Labor party.”
But Barilaro offered his Liberal colleagues a word of advice: “Don’t disrespect the National party.
“We need to fight for the bush, and there are certain policies that we must stand tall on. You support us, they can win the next election.”