00:02The Liberal Party have managed to hold on to the seat of Nepean, but there's still a long road ahead
00:07for them to the November election.
00:09With about 80% of votes counted, the Liberals' Anthony Marsh has picked up about 38.5% of the
00:14primary vote,
00:15compared to his main challenger, One Nation's Darren Hurkus, who received about 24% of the primary vote.
00:21When you take into consideration preferences, what means no other candidate can overtake Anthony Marsh.
00:26Now, despite the victory, that is a considerable drop in the Liberal Party's primary vote,
00:30when compared to when former Deputy Liberal leader Sam Groth won Nepean back in 2022,
00:35with a whopping 48% of the primary vote.
00:39Last night, Anthony Marsh claimed victory in front of a jubilant Liberal Party crowd.
00:43Here's what he had to say.
00:45Whether you voted for me or not, I'll be out there representing the community of Nepean
00:49and making sure that they can see in the next 210 odd days leading into November
00:52why a Jess Wilson Liberal-led government would be the best way forward for Victoria.
00:57One Nation and everyone else jumped into the race.
00:59It's elections by nature, competition, but I just gave everything I could and we got the result we wanted.
01:03Now, while this victory will no doubt be a huge relief for the Liberal Party,
01:07and it also means that opposition leader Jess Wilson has passed her first major test,
01:12it's worth bearing in mind that Nepean was always a seat that the Liberals should have won.
01:16Nepean is traditionally Liberal heartland.
01:18It's been held by the party for 36 out of the last 40 years.
01:21It takes in some pretty affluent communities such as Sorrento, Portsea and Blairgowrie,
01:27and overall it was never considered to be ideally suited for a One Nation challenge.
01:32And yet One Nation managed to pick up a primary vote around the mid-20s,
01:35which could bode well for them come November,
01:38particularly in seats where they're suffering from more economic anxiety,
01:41seats in outer suburban Melbourne, the mortgage belt, as well as regional communities.
01:45So the Liberals are facing quite a major challenge at the November election.
01:50They need to flip 16 seats in order to form government,
01:53which means they have to win quite a large number of seats off Labor,
01:56whilst defending their existing seats from a surging One Nation.
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