Well, that was quick as hell.
The ABC‘s beloved election analyst Antony Green has already called the Wentworth by-election for independent challenger Kerryn Phelps, unseating the Liberals in what will be considered a historic shellacking.
Here’s Antony:
One-fifth of the polling places and they are all showing the same thing, a swing of more than 20% [away from] the Liberal Party. Liberals projected to be under 40% by the end of the night so I think we can declare Kerryn Phelps as the winner of the Wentworth by-election against the Liberals’ Dave Sharma.
This is massive. If it holds – and there’s no reason to think it won’t – then this will be the first time the electorate has fallen out of conservative hands since literally Federation. Ooft. To rub salt in the wound, here’s Alex Turnbull:
https://twitter.com/alexbhturnbull/status/1053561693362503683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1053561693362503683&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2Flive%2F2018%2Foct%2F20%2Fwentworth-by-election-live-results-liberal-dave-sharma-kerryn-phelps-exit-poll-latest-news-updates
This shreds the government’s slim one-seat majority – which will make it difficult for the government to successfully pass legislation – and makes Scott Morrison’s life a helluva lot harder. Goddamn. We’ll keep you posted.
