SITTING Blair MP, Shayne Neumann has been elected for a seventh term.
The latest figures show Mr Neumann has been re-elected with a swing of 0.79 percent and 56.02 percent of the vote.
Late on the election night, Mr Neumann declared a “resounding victory for Labor in Blair.”
“It is an honour to represent an area in which my family has lived for seven generations,” Mr Neumann said.
“I could not have done this without the hard work and dedication of so many volunteers and supporters.
“It has been a privilege to serve our great region and I look forward to working for our community as part of a re-elected Albanese Labor Government.”
On Monday, Mr Neumann said his campaign had focussed on delivering the infrastructure needed in the rapidly growing electorate of Blair – funding a long-term fix to the Amberley Interchange, a new rugby league and sports centre in the Ripley Valley, more courts for Ipswich Basketball and Fernvale Sports Park, expanding the Chuwar Koala and Native Fauna Conservation Park, a new headspace mental health centre in Redbank Plains, a new House of India community and cultural centre, l and upgrades to the Springfield Central YMCA.
LNP candidate, Carl Mutzelburg congratulated Mr Neumann on his victory.
“I wish him well into the future,” he said.
“We feel we ran a campaign to be proud of; I love my home city of Ipswich and am hoping I get to advocate for it in whatever role I have in the future.”
Election figures at time of printing showed a swing of 3.82 percent to the ALP in Queensland and 2.88 percent nationwide.
However, the Greens with Paul Toner went backwards in Blair, so far garnering 10.3 percent of the vote with a swing against the party of 2.25 percent.
The informal vote rose to 6,660 or 6.5 percent of the vote, higher than the national average of 5.5 percent, and an increase of 1.20 percent.
Queensland LNP Senator Paul Scarr told ABC radio that many of his colleagues were “extraordinarily devastated”.
“… When that pendulum swung, it was absolutely brutal; we’ve lost some really, really talented people from parliament and that is going to make it much harder for us to rebuild,” Senator Scarr said.
“I think the working-from-home policy and the subsequent backflip … that alienated a lot of people.
“The Labor Party was brutally effective in making this a referendum on Peter Dutton, as opposed to the performance of the Albanese Labor government.
“It’s certainly a crisis and I just say that as someone who’s been a member of the party since I was 17.
“We’ve got to return with our core values: respect for the freedoms of the individual, things like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association.
“It’s recognising that free enterprise is an engine to generate prosperity for all Australians and providing a government which gives support to those in need and opportunity for all.
“It means we recognise the contribution made by our wonderful multicultural communities, and recognise that when they come to Australia, they bring many things with them, including an appreciation of those freedoms and a determination to make the most of the opportunities in our country.”
