By Rowan Forster
Gary Blackwood has maintained a tight grip on the Narracan electorate – which has now become the Liberal Party’s safest Victorian seat.
While last-minute Labor candidate Christine Maxfield has managed to notch a 3.6 per cent swing against the incumbent, incoming postal votes are expected to strengthen the Coalition’s hold.
Mr Blackwood currently holds 57.7 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, more than Liberal leader Matthew Guy’s lead in Bulleen.
According to Mr Blackwood’s office, a minor swing was expected given the electorate distributions and change in population.
While he was disappointed with the statewide result, the Narracan MP said he was grateful for the support in his electorate.
“It’s a relief to have the monkey off your back,” he said.
“It was a pretty good result given what happened elsewhere.”
He believes his commitments gave him the edge over his Labor counterpart, Christine Maxfield.
“The fact we made the West Gippsland Hospital announcement, the dedicated line for Gippsland commuters and the Nar Nar Goon CFA station, for example, would have helped us.
“Those things that we announced did resonate with people, especially given the backlash we’ve felt in other seats
“It gives me ammunition in opposition to encourage the Andrews Labor Hospital to meet those commitments.”
He also expressed his sorrow for the loss of a number of “incredible” parliamentarians, including colleague Brian Paynter.
“It’s sad that we’ve lost a number of very good performing members of parliament,” Mr Blackwood added.
“Brian Paynter is a case in point – he’s worked really hard and he’s a very strong advocate for the community so it is a shame to see him go.”
After the last electorate redistribution, the seat of Narracan saw an approximate 10,000 jump in constituents.
The 3.6 per cent Narracan swing in Labor’s favour was miniscule compared to some experienced in closer to Melbourne.
Mordialloc, for example, saw a swing of more than 12 per cent towards the Labor MP, Tim Richardson.
While Ms Maxfield’s goal of making the seat marginal again was not entirely successful, with an 11.3 per cent margin required for that to happen, she said the swing was a “positive sign”.
“I wanted a swing, we certainly got a swing,” she said.
“I think the main contributing factors are that the Andrews Labor Government has delivered on health, education and jobs.”
