Liberal Party celebrates victory in Warrandyte byelection

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Liberal Party is celebrating a resounding victory in the Warrandyte byelection, with Nicole Werner declared the winner just hours after polls closed. The opposition leader says it shows the clock is ticking for the Andrews government even though Labor didn't field a candidate.

Transcript

00:00 The leafy green seat in Melbourne's outer east is staying blue, with the former youth

00:07 worker easily winning in the electorate her Liberal Party peers have held for 25 years.

00:22 The battle for Warrandyte had been viewed as a test of John Pursuto's leadership, after

00:26 months of party turmoil and the resignation of one of his critics, the long serving MP

00:31 Ryan Smith.

00:32 With the dust settled and a spring in his step, the opposition leader today framed the

00:36 10% surge in his party's primary vote as a clear rejection of the Andrews government.

00:42 The people of Warrandyte made it clear, they're sick of the corruption, the waste and mismanagement.

00:47 There's just one hiccup.

00:48 It's a unique by-election, the Labor Party didn't field a candidate.

00:52 There was no Labor candidate because Labor was scared to face the people of Warrandyte.

00:56 Labor's no contest scattered its vote.

00:59 Greens candidate Thomas Lightbody finished a distant second on two candidate preferred,

01:03 with a 7% rise in first preferences.

01:06 I won't let you down.

01:07 I've spent my entire working life serving my community, serving our community.

01:12 A 32 year old daughter of Asian migrants, Nicole Werner will add a new and diverse face

01:17 to John Pursuto's team.

01:19 But the status quo remains on the floor of state parliament, with the coalition still

01:24 a long way behind the government's huge majority in the Legislative Assembly.

01:28 But it's far from plain sailing for Daniel Andrews, the Premier distancing himself from

01:33 a Labor inquiry that found the renewal of two dead men's branch memberships an egregious

01:38 act but failed to find anyone responsible.

01:41 This is a matter for the Labor Party.

01:44 That does not pass the pub text and a whitewash will not satisfy the Victorian people's interest

01:49 in this matter.

01:50 It's one of the issues the coalition will try to prosecute in what John Pursuto is claiming

01:56 is a new dawn under his leadership.

01:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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