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Gladys Berejiklian’s former seat of Willoughby hangs in the balance
By Alexandra Smith and Sarah McPhee
The Perrottet government could still face a shock loss in the once blue-ribbon seat of Willoughby as the swing away from the Liberal candidate increased to almost 20 per cent as vote counting continues.
Counting of postal votes has still not started, however prepoll votes tallied on Monday show Gladys Berejiklian’s former seat is now under threat from independent candidate Larissa Penn.
NSW Premier Perrottet and Willoughby candidate Tim James at Cammeray Public School on Saturday.Credit: Renee Nowytarger
Ms Penn has increased the swing against the government, and Liberal candidate Tim James, to 19.2 per cent after she picked up more than 32. 2 per cent of the first preferences.
Ms Penn campaigned against the controversial proposed northern beaches tunnels. She ran on the same issue at the 2019 state election and polled 9.9 per cent of the vote.
Independent candidate for Willoughby Larissa Penn. Credit: Wolter Peeters
ABC election analyst Antony Green said the preference flows released on Monday showed Willoughby “remains in doubt” and could end up the closest result of the four byelections held on Saturday.
Speaking on 2GB Radio on Wednesday morning, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said he was still confident that Mr James would win the seat.
“We know that postals are coming in and they usually favour the Liberal Party,” Mr Kean said.
“I’m confident that we’ll get over the line, but we’re not going to count our chickens yet. We’ll go through the process and see what the people of Willoughby decide.”
Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Sunday that local issues, including the government’s proposed northern beaches link, had significant implications for the byelection results.
Mr Perrottet said it was a “loud and clear” signal that better consultation was needed with locals who will be most impacted by the project, while not gaining a tangible benefit.
He also acknowledged that the party was still perceived to have a female problem. Mr James contested his preselection against two women, one backed by Ms Berejiklian and the other by former federal treasurer Joe Hockey.
Asked if the departure of Ms Berejiklian – hugely popular among women aged 30-50 – would make it harder for the Coalition to attract female voters in next year’s state election, Mr Perrottet said the government would need to do better.
“I think that was reflected in the result [in Willoughby] yesterday,” he said.
The government lost Andrew Constance’s former seat of Bega, and it failed to win Strathfield. On Saturday night, Mr Perrottet downplayed that result and said Labor had “gone backwards”.
However, as voting continued on Monday, Labor has picked up a swing towards it, which has Strathfield candidate Jason Yat-Sen Li on 55.5 per cent of first preferences.
Writing for the Herald in the wake of the byelections, Liberal elder and former NSW minister Michael Yabsley said the result in Willoughby should worry the party more than the Bega loss.
“Saturday’s byelection result in Bega, while a loss for the Liberal Party, is far from a disaster,” he wrote.
“There is now a raft of seats where high-profile, highly credentialed, adrenalin-charged female independents are seeking election or re-election in Liberal Party heartland.”
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