Curtin has succumb to the teal wave with Kate Chaney claiming victory in the blue-ribbon seat in Perth's western suburbs.
Curtin has succumb to the teal wave with Kate Chaney claiming victory in the blue-ribbon seat in Perth's western suburbs.
Kate Chaney, who formerly held key positions at Anglicare and Wesfarmers, has held a slim two-party preferred lead against first-term Liberal MP Celia Hammond since Saturday night when Labor swept to office with huge gains in Western Australia.
Several media outlets, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Nine Entertainment, have called Curtin for Ms Chaney, who currently leads Ms Hammond by 1.8 percentage points in two-party preferred terms.
Ms Chaney thanked supporters this afternoon after Ms Hammond earlier conceded she would not be returned for a second term.
"I'm so overwhelmed by the level of support, enthusiasm and energy that I've seen from my community," she said.
"People have come out of the woodwork with all sorts of skills and experience, and doing the jobs that you don't get any credit for, the thankless backroom tasks, the doorknocking, the phone calling, the scrutineering.
"I'm hugely grateful to be part of that community and the face of the community."
Ms Hammond's loss comes as Ian Goodenough, who holds the seat of Moore in Perth’s outer-northern suburbs, looks likely to be the last remaining Liberal MP to hold a seat in the city’s metropolitan area as he holds an exceedingly narrow lead over his Labor challenger.
Andrew Hastie, who survived a much smaller swing against him in the seat of Canning, will also represent parts of Perth’s outer-metropolitan suburbs.
Swan and Pearce, the two seats previously thought most likely to fall, were easily won by Labor on election night, while former ministers Ken Wyatt and Ben Morton went down to defeat in their respective electorates of Hasluck and Tangney.
Their fate broadly mirrors a sharp swing against the federal Liberal Party across Australia’s capital cities, including Adelaide, where the party has only managed to hold one seat, and Melbourne, where it holds just three.
Liberals fared much better in Sydney, where they limited losses in the western suburbs at the same time as ‘teal’ independents knocked off incumbents in the city’s harbourside and northern beaches.
Brisbane proved far more fruitful for the coalition, however, up to three Greens candidates are on track to claim seats from both major parties in the city’s greater metropolitan region.
Speaking to Business News on election night, Ms Chaney said she was unsurprised to see ‘teal’ independents pick up seats like Mackellar, Wentworth and North Sydney, arguing the Liberal Party had shifted too far to the right at the same time as Labor had turned away from big ideas.
“These sensible centre candidates around the country are popping up to represent the values of those electorates,” she said.
