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Labor has declared victory in the Batman by-election, upsetting the Greens who were the favourites to win the inner-Melbourne seat.
Key points:
- There has been no formal declaration, but Labor is predicted to retain the seat
- Richard Di Natale blamed the Greens' loss on preference deals
- Ms Kearney's victory takes female representation in the federal caucus to 48 per cent
Former ACTU president Ged Kearney was on track to defeat the Greens' Alex Bhathal, with the ALP winning back voters from the Greens in the southern part of the electorate.
There has been no formal declaration, but with more than half of the vote counted at 9pm AEDT, the ABC was predicting that Labor would retain the seat.
"This is a victory for true Labor values,'' Ms Kearney said.
"Our campaign spoke to everyone from the ring road to the river."
"We spoke to national progressive values."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten declared Ms Kearney "the hero of Batman''.
Her victory, the first ever for a woman in Batman, takes female representation in the federal caucus to 48 per cent.
Ms Kearney entered the Thornbury Theatre, where Labor supporters are celebrating, to a crowd-led rendition of union anthem Solidarity, and Mr Shorten paid tribute to the efforts of unions in the campaign.
He also acknowledged there was a growing anti-political party sentiment in the community, but used the victory to make a broader pitch to Australian voters.
Mr Shorten paid tribute to the Greens for running, and took a swipe at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for "not even bothering to turn up".
He also thanked the campaign's volunteers.
"From the bookmakers to the commentators, they wrote Labor off in Batman, and you have proved them wrong," he said.
"To all of those who voted for Labor or not, tonight we celebrate a victory for Labor."
"I promise that we do not treat this election outcome as a triumph and an end in itself, but as another step, another step along the way to giving Australians the sort of government they want."
Greens blame 'hard-right' parties
Greens leader Richard Di Natale told the party faithful the Greens were not going to get over the line in Batman.
He blamed preference deals between Labor and hard-right parties.
"It's been a very, very tight run race. But it looks like because of the preferences of all the hard-right parties and [Australian Conservatives leader] Cory Bernardi, Rise Up Australia that we're just going to fall short tonight," Senator Di Natale said.
Senator Di Natale and Ms Bhathal congratulated Ms Kearney.
"Obviously it's not the result that any of us would have wanted," Ms Bhathal said.
"I first want to congratulate Ged Kearney. It's been an honour to have contested this seat against her."
"Many people have said over the course of this campaign that regardless of the outcome we'll have a strong, progressive woman representing us in this seat. And I wish Ged all the very best in Canberra."
It was Ms Bhathal's sixth attempt to win the seat and she entered the by-election needing just a 1 per cent swing to knock Labor off.
But the Greens campaign was dogged by internal leaks, including the release of a 101-page dossier of complaints from branch members against Ms Bhathal, some calling for expulsion over bullying and branch-stacking allegations.
Equally, Labor has had to fight a campaign on national issues that have wedged it, including stopping the Adani mine and the treatment of refugees.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, australia, vic
First posted