Well, there you have it: Labor has officially won the Victorian state election so Dan Andrews will kick on as Premier.
Nearly half of Victorians got their votes in early, so good job being time efficient with your democratic rights there team.
The ABC and 9News called the election for Labor — though the party has seen some swings against it, including seats being picked up by both The Greens and the Coalition.
The ABC’s election king Antony Green initially said that, “what we can’t see is a pathway for the Coalition to win enough seats to get into government in their own right”.
Green then projected Labor would govern in the majority. They have more than 45 seats, the number they need to form government.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took to Twitter with a sausage selfie to congratulate Dan Andrews on his government’s win.
Congratulations @DanielAndrewsMP, what a great win. pic.twitter.com/nkrolgqPXD
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 26, 2022
It’s Andrews’ third term in office — phew!
Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy confirmed he’d conceded the election in a phone call to Andrews.
In his winning speech, Dan Andrews himself cited the words of former Prime Minister Paul Keating.
“Paul Keating once said to me, ‘Son, leadership isn’t about doing what’s popular. Leadership is about doing what’s right’.
“Essentially, he was telling me leadership is doing what matters.
“And that is exactly what the people of this great state have endorsed today, in resoundingly re-electing our strong, stable, majority Labor government.”
The Greens, led by Samantha Ratnam, have held the seats of Melbourne, Brunswick and Prahran. The Greens have also won the Labor-held seats of Richmond and Northcote.
With a number of seats still waiting to be called, it looks like we’re seeing the same “greenslide” we saw in the May Federal Election.
Samantha Ratnam declares a “greenslide” #vicvotes2022 pic.twitter.com/gqtWIFvaaj
— MaryGearin (@MaryGearin) November 26, 2022
There’s also been a win for the Teal Independents, with Dr Kate Lardner taking the seat of Mornington from Liberal Chris Crewther.
There are still plenty of exciting updates to shake out. Don’t worry, we’ll update you as soon as we know what’s what.
Next up will be the NSW State Election which is scheduled for March 25, 2023. The election tomfoolery simply never stops.
