National change, but locals stick to Nats
WAVING his red flag, Anthony Albanese, and the Labor Party have formed a majority government and have already settled in.
However, the seat of Parkes remains under the Nationals as Mark Coulton won his sixth election.
Despite the national swing against the Coalition, Mr Coulton received more than 68 per cent of votes securing his seat in Parkes.
“We don’t owe our allegiance to anyone but the people of the Parkes electorate, and the good people who have given their times and their donations,” he added, saying The Nationals have held their seats federally.
According to the experienced politician, the Party understands what the people of the seat need and desire politically, and residents “need to be represented in the Australian parliament are just as important as anyone else’s”.
Despite the change of government, Mr Coulton’s confidence remains with his constituents.
“The Parkes electorate is the powerhouse that will drive this country into a modern future – with the resources we have, the modern technology, highly efficient agriculture, a service industry and support industries in our country towns to back that up.”
Candidate for the Informed Medical Options Party, Benjamin Fox, applauded Mr Coulton for his win for the electorate of Parkes.
“I had the pleasure of speaking to him and his wife Robyn on multiple occasions throughout the campaign and I have found them both to be genuine people who want the best for the community,” Mr Fox said, acknowledging the rest of the candidates and mentioning that they all treated each other with respect through the campaign.
“I also want to note that as of today (Monday) with 80 per cent of the Parkes electorate votes counted, the four minor parties that ran with a freedom of choice platform have a combined first preference vote of 14256,” Mr Fox told Dubbo Photo News, adding that Labor received more than 16,000 votes.
“A significant portion of the electorate are disenfranchised with Liberal/national and Labor parties,” he added.
Candidate for the Greens, Trish Frail, acknowledged it was her first time running as a federal candidate, so she had learned a lot throughout the experience.
“We went into this election to up our profile and to ensure that we had over four per cent of voters vote for the Greens in the lower house and the Senate – we achieved our goal,” Ms Frail said.
Candidate for the Liberal Democrats, Peter Rothwell, said he was extremely happy with the Parkes electorate result.
“I’ve received a lot of support and the result was a lot better than I thought it would be,” he added,saying he was shocked with the national swing and “teal” independents’ seats win.
“Four of the five wealthiest seats in Australia are represented by teal independents – and they are seats directing energy policy and pricing across Australia,” he continued saying this was a heavy concern for him.