After months of campaigning the people have spoken, backing Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Helen Dalton to represent the Murray electorate in NSW state government.
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In her third attempt at winning the seat, Mrs Dalton was named NSW Member for Murray when incumbent Nationals member Austin Evans conceded defeat to her just after 10pm Saturday — despite counting continuing in a number of Murray polls earlier this week.
It is the local first loss by The Nationals in more than three decades.
And Murray is not the only seat Mrs Dalton’s Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party snatched from the returned Coalition Government, which she said highlights its treatment of rural NSW needs improvement.
‘‘People are seeing through the rot, and they are tired of being neglected; finally we have a bit of power,’’ Mrs Dalton said of the results.
‘‘We are seeing the benefits (of a desire for change) already. If we were not marginal we would not have had the promises Austin made, and I do intend to ensure those promises are honoured.
‘‘A lot of the Coalition’s ideas are good for the city, but not for us out here. The Nationals have had to toe the Liberal Party line, but I don’t have to.
‘‘The southern area of the state is incredibly important... Murray is not Griffith-centric — I intend to represent the whole electorate.’’
The Southern Riverina overwhelmingly voted for Mrs Dalton with all five booths backing a new member of state parliament on Saturday.
Across Barooga, Berrigan, Blighty, Finley and Tocumwal booths the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF) candidate polled 2068 votes (after preferences) compared to sitting Murray member Austin Evans (Nationals) 1305 votes.
First preference votes from local polling booths are as follows:
●Barooga Public School — Dalton 431 to Evans 231.
●Berrigan Public School — Dalton 287 to Evans 209.
●Blighty Public School — Dalton 97 to Evans 16.
●Finley High School — Dalton 623 to Evans 301.
●Tocumwal Public School — Dalton 468 to Evans 475.
Mrs Dalton was one of two SFF winning candidates to unseat a Nationals held seat including Roy Butler enjoying a 21.6 per cent swing in Barwon.
Although a marginal seat going into the election, Mrs Dalton created a swing of 27.6 per cent against Mr Evans on her third attempt at running for the seat of Murray.
She said she’ll wait for the ‘‘dust to settle’’ before visiting the region.
‘‘I need to be sworn in first so I’ll wait until parliament sits, then I can get out and thank the voters; I’m already getting requests from Wentworth to come and visit.’’
Mrs Dalton credited part of her win to better preparation going into Saturday’s election.
‘‘The first two times I ran I only had about four weeks, but this time I had longer and was able to get people on the ground to get my message across.
‘‘In 2017 (by-election) I wasn’t able to win at the Finley booth and increased the vote there this time.
‘‘My platform in the campaign was on water, health and education, and I will work diligently on all of them.
‘‘I guess there is a bit of a concern that before the election (returned Premier) Gladys Berejiklian said she would not work with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers but she will have to soften on that — she has to.
‘‘We have been under attack for the last 40 to 50 years, and I will be making changes.
‘‘Bit by bit I want to restore rural communities — the communities who have spoken (with their votes).’’
Finishing third in the election was Labor’s Alan Purtill with 8.7 per cent of first preference votes and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’s Tom Weyrich finishing fourth with 7.4 per cent.
The other minor parties and independents rounded off the remaining 8.6 per cent of first preference votes, unsurprisingly the Keep Sydney Open party finished last with a total on 0.4 per cent of the vote.
Mr Evans said he was disappointed with the result however respected the decision from the electorate to vote for change.
‘‘I am so grateful to all those volunteers and supporters who gave so much time and effort to help our campaign.
‘‘It has been just 17 months since I was elected, and it has been such a privilege to represent and deliver for the communities I love.
‘‘My Nationals colleagues in government will continue to deliver great projects for people right across regional NSW such as the Regional Seniors Travel Card, the Regional Growth Fund and local community projects through the Stronger Country Communities Fund.
‘‘Additionally, our huge health infrastructure program will continue and schools right across the state will benefit from having their maintenance backlog wiped and air-conditioning installed.
‘‘I want to thank my wife Demi and my sons for their support as I poured myself into this job over the past 17 months.
‘‘I’ve spent countless hours in the car travelling around the second largest electorate in this state, from Barooga to Buronga, and it has been an absolute honour,’’ Mr Evans said
Mr Evans took a surprising swipe at the Southern Riverina News for our election coverage. In complaining about the negativity of the campaign he accused both the SRN and the Deniliquin Pastoral Times of ‘‘deliberately misquoting’’ him and compounding that with ‘‘deceptive headlines’’.
At the SRN we believe we ran fair and balanced coverage throughout the campaign and have never been made aware of any alleged ‘‘misquoting’’ of Mr Evans.
In the upper house Tocumwal was the only booth in the Southern Riverina to favour the Liberal/Nationals over SFF.
Labor and One Nation also polled well in the Southern Riverina.
The voting spread among the four other booths were as followed:
● Barooga Public School — SFF 342, Labor 112, Liberal/Nationals 252, One Nation 70.
● Berrigan Public School — SFF 253, Labor 42, Liberal/Nationals 200, One Nation 67.
●Blighty Public School — SFF 82, Labor 5, Liberal/National 27, One Nation 20.
● Finley High School — SFF 528, Labor 87, Liberal/Nationals 295, One Nation 94.
● Tocumwal Public School — SFF 395, Labor 107, Liberal/Nationals 433, One Nation 114.
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