VOTERS have delivered very different messages – some surprising – in the two state electorates in the Shoalhaven.
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In Kiama, Liberal Gareth Ward has increased his margin to an estimated 10 per cent, up 1.4 per cent from 2011; in South Coast Liberal Shelley Hancock has seen her margin clawed back from a seemingly unassailable 20.1 per cent to an estimated 8 per cent.
Pre-polls are yet to be counted and on previous experience could further inflate the incumbents’ margins.
The Coalition victory in both seats became apparent early in the count, which threw up some unexpected booth results. In Kiama, Gareth Ward was particularly surprised by the big swing his way in Albion Park.
“To win Albion Park on primary votes is just huge,” Mr Ward said.
“The swing was about 20 per cent in Albion Park.” He attributed the convincing result to the commitment of $550 million to a bypass of the town, which would help ease traffic congestion.
“I think it was people believing we’d do it. For years, people have been promised infrastructure in this region but it was never delivered. People can see from the evidence on the ground that when I say I am going to do something I do it.”
Mr Ward also singled out the doubling of his vote at Shoalhaven Heads for mention. He now holds the safest Coalition seat in the region.
Greens’ candidate Terry Barratt increased his party’s standing in Kiama by 2.2 per cent, taking it to 11.1 per cent.
“I’m very pleased with this. It shows we are starting to get issues together. We had a strong theme on jobs but we should have presented it a bit earlier and a bit more effectively,” he said.
In South Coast, both Mrs Hancock and Labor candidate Fiona Phillips were particularly pleased with the result at Sanctuary Point. Mrs Hancock won the booth on primary votes and preferences but it was line-ball. The booth had been at the centre of simmering dissatisfaction over law and order and policing.
“Sanctuary Point has traditionally been a Labor booth,” Mrs Hancock said. “To actually win it this time was exceptional.”
She said she expected the booth to go back to Labor after it lost it in the 2011 Coalition landslide.
Mrs Phillips said she was pleased with the big swing back to Labor in Sanctuary Point and across the Bay and Basin generally.
“The feeling we got through the campaign was a sense that the Liberal member was absent and had deserted the people of the Bay and Basin,” Mrs Phillips said.
Mrs Hancock attributed a large measure of the swing away from her to the success of The Greens’ candidate Amanda Findley.
“I have to congratulate Amanda Findley. She is a very good [Shoalhaven City] councillor and a very credible personality in the community. So what we’ve seen is a green decline in my margin,” she said.
Cr Findley increased The Greens’ margin in South Coast by 0.4 per cent, a creditable result, she said, given the expected bounce back to Labor.
“I’m really happy with that because our camp is sitting higher than the state average for the Greens,” she said.
The strongest booths for The Greens were Bawley Point and Milton.
“I congratulate Shelley Hancock for her win.
“This is the third election cycle where I’ve been a candidate alongside her and I think that over those campaigning years we’ve struck up a good, professional friendship.
“Shelley is a consummate hard worker and good politician. Fiona Phillips has done a remarkable job and put in an enormous effort in a community based campaign and she should also feel really pleased in the bounce back in the Labor vote.”