Liberal leader Peter Dutton and Roshena Campbell arrive to give the concession speech after losing the Aston byelection.Credit:Penny Stephens
“Anthony leads a government that Australians can truly be proud of,a government that has hit the ground running,trying to fix a decade of problems and neglect and scheming and rorting from the Coalition.”
The mood was sombre at the Liberal Party event at the Knox Italian Community Club in Rowville. Shortly after 9pm,Campbell thanked leader Peter Dutton and former prime minister John Howard,and said a strong opposition was important for a healthy democracy.
Campbell said she felt “incredibly lucky to live in this country where we have a strong democracy”.
“I will always be proud to be a Liberal and I will always be proud to be Australian because we live in the greatest country in the world,” she said. “We will fight on.”
The new federal member for Aston with her great niece Jamilah and daughter Lily.Credit:Penny Stephens
Dutton congratulated Doyle and thanked Campbell for her hard work in the campaign,saying the byelection was another “tough night” for the Liberals in Victoria. He promised to rebuild and said the party would “learn and grow stronger from today’s experience”.
“We have been out of government[in Victoria] 20 of the past 24 years.[There’s] a lot of work ahead of us to listen to the messages sent to us today from the people of Aston,but listen to them we will,” Dutton said.
Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan said the result was disappointing and that the party needed to present a “compelling case” to voters.
“We’ve got to make sure that we learn the lessons from tonight … and make sure that the next time we go to the Australian people,whether it’s a byelection or the general federal election that we’ve learnt those lessons,” he said.
‘I was raised by a single parent in government housing and I think Mary brings to politics the voice of the ordinary Australian.’
Labor supporter John Sugunananthan
“We’ve also got to understand that the Australian people give any new governments a chance and 10 months in that seems to be what we are seeing here tonight.”
Some Liberal figures at the election-night event were critical of those running the Victorian division,labelling them “freaks”.
Others blamed the week-long saga over Moira Deeming’s attempted expulsion from the state parliamentary team as a distraction after it was raised by Dutton in the federal party room.
A senior Victorian Liberal figure,speaking on the condition of anonymity,gave a scathing assessment of the Victorian division and declared state opposition leader John Pesutto’s push to expel Deeming as a factor in the loss.
“We were talking about ourselves. It was handled poorly and they saw us as anti-Christian,” they said.
About 60 Liberal Party members and federal MPs,including Tehan and Jane Hume,gathered at the Knox Italian Community Club for Campbell’s election-night party shortly after 7pm.
The lacklustre event sparked up when footage of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was beamed into the room,with attendees booing at images of Andrews returning from his trip to China.
Earlier,Brighton man John Sugunananthan spent the day volunteering for Labor at the Fairhills Primary School in Ferntree Gully before travelling to the Boronia Bowls Club.
Sugunananthan said he was compelled to volunteer at the byelection as he personally connected with Doyle’s campaign.
“I was raised by a single parent in government housing and I think Mary brings to politics the voice of the ordinary Australian,” he said.
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“She brings lived experience and real understanding of struggle. That’s something that’s been missing from politics for a very long time in this country.”
In Ferntree Gully,49-year-old small business owner Brett said he was in the Young Liberals when he was a university student but didn’t vote for Campbell as she wasn’t a local.
“You’ve got to have skin in the game and the candidate has to be from the local area,” he said.
“People aren’t stupid – they want to know you’re representing them and[that] you’ll be a local voice.
Mary Doyle (left) celebrates her victory at the Boronia Bowls Club on Saturday night.Credit:Penny Stephens
“If you are going to support a community,if you’re going to represent a community,you’ve got to live in the community.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.