Final Melbourne Greens vote sets record
With results officially declared today, the seat of Melbourne is now the greenest place in the country, said newly re-elected Greens MP, Adam Bandt. A huge swing of 7% to the Greens saw a record primary vote of 42.6% in the seat, with the party winning a lower house seat in its own right for the first time.
"People in Melbourne have made history again," said Mr Bandt.
"I thank the people of Melbourne for their support and trust. The huge 7% swing to the Greens was even better than we had hoped for."
"As I said repeatedly before the election, with Labor and Liberal working together on preferences we were aiming to win the seat of Melbourne in our own right, which meant a swing to the Greens of about 4 to 5%."
"The huge swing to the Greens saw Melbourne achieve the highest ever Greens vote in Australia."
"At the election, over 4,000 new people in Melbourne voted Greens for the first time. More candidates ran in Melbourne than in any other electorate in the country, yet the Greens achieved a record primary vote."
"The preference arrangement between Labor and Liberal barely had an impact."
"The pollsters and bookies repeatedly said we couldn't do it, but the people of Melbourne proved them wrong."
"After a pretty grim election result for progressive-minded people, Melbourne remains a shining light."
"The real opposition to the coming brutality of Tony Abbott's government will be led by the people of Melbourne."
Further information:
- Even with the Liberals preferencing Labor ahead of the Greens, Adam Bandt's final margin in the seat remains a healthy 5.3%, down only 0.6%.
- Before Adam Bandt started running in the seat, the Greens vote in 2004 was 19%. The vote in the seat has more than doubled since, rising to 23% (2007), 36% (2010) and now 43% (2010).