Election Results Highlight Sharp North-South, East-West Voting Patterns
Final results from the Federal Election reveal a clear political divide across Ballina Shire, with the far north showing strong support for the Greens, while the west of the shire leaned conservative.
In the seat of Richmond, the outcome closely mirrored the 2022 election. Sitting MP Justine Elliot (ALP) recorded a 1.5% swing in her favour, finishing with a two-candidate-preferred result of 59.73% to 40.27% over Nationals candidate Kimberly Hone.
Despite a big campaign and high hopes, Greens candidate Mandy Nolan fell well short of winning the seat. She secured less than a 1% swing and trailed Elliot by 4,168 first preference votes.
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Ms Elliot won a clear majority of booths across the electorate including locally at Ballina Coast High, Ballina East (Southern Cross), Ballina North (Richmond College) and Skennars Head (Xavier College). The ALP candidate also narrowly won the Richmond Room pre-poll, where more than 12,000 early votes were cast -though Ms Hone trailed by just 45 votes.
Kimberly Hone came out narrowly ahead at West Ballina (Canal Road Scout Hall) and Tintenbar.
After taking every booth in Byron Shire by storm, Mandy Nolan performed strongest in the north of Ballina Shire, winning at Fernleigh, Newrybar, and Lennox Head, where she finished 123 votes ahead of Labor.
In neighbouring Page electorate, the final count was strikingly similar in terms of the final two-candidate preferred result. Incumbent Kevin Hogan (Nationals) secured 59.69%, with the ALP’s Wendy Backhous finishing on 40.31% after preferences.
Greens candidate Luke Robinson had the strongest first preference swing of any Page candidate -up 6.45%.
Mr Hogan won every Ballina Shire booth in the Page electorate, including Alstonville, Wollongbar, Wardell, Ballina Coast High, the Richmond Room pre-poll, and Rous.
Both local MPs returned to work quickly after the election. Mr Hogan said his top priority is to push for flood mitigation works on the Richmond and Wilsons Rivers.
A long-awaited CSIRO report outlining possible solutions is expected in the coming weeks with Mr Hogan predicting a $2 billion commitment will be needed from the Federal Government.
Main Picture: Honk if you voted Labor! — Justine Elliot hits the streets in Tweed to say thanks after her eighth record-breaking election win
A rising greens vote is a concern. We are poorly served by our state greens mp as it is, the “ghost who walks”, Tamara “who?” Smith.