Andrew Gee retains seat of Calare
THE National’s Andrew Gee has been returned as the member for the Federal seat of Calare, which extends from Wellington and Gulgong in the north, to Oberon in the south, and covers the regional cities of Orange and Bathurst.
Saturday’s election result saw a strong performance by first-time independent candidate Kate Hook who received the second highest number of votes.
Mr Gee has held the seat since the 2016 election and went into last weekend with a strong margin of 13.3 per cent. At press time, the Australian Electoral Commission’s tally room was showing a swing to Mr Gee of more than three per cent.
In a statement on Monday, Mr Gee said it was “an honour to be re-elected as Member of Calare”.
“Thank you to all of our volunteers and helpers who worked so hard, and everyone who supported our campaign.
“The government has changed hands, but I'm back at work today making sure that our communities continue to have a strong voice, and that our region keeps on growing and thriving,” Mr Gee said.
Mr Gee had a clear lead in the two candidate preferred results with more than 64 per cent, compared to Kate Hook’s 36 per cent.
The first preference count showed Andrew Gee with 48,296 votes (48.27 per cent), followed by Kate Hook with 20,569 (20.56 per cent).
The Labor party’s Sarah Elliott was third with 14,913 votes, representing a 7.23 per cent swing against the party.
In fourth place was Stacey Whittaker, the candidate for Pauline Hanson's One Nation, with 8346 votes, then The Greens’ Kay Nankervis with 4229 (4.23 per cent), and United Australia Party candidate Adam Jannis with 3703.