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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Politics

From Barnaby country to Labor's heartlands: what the ACM papers say

Front pages from the 2022 federal election outcome

It wasn't only in parliament where the greens were victorious at the weekend.

Dubbo's Daily Liberal newspaper couldn't resist splashing an action photo from Sunday's NRL match between the Canberra Raiders NRL and South Sydney Rabbitohs on its post-election front page on Monday.

The game was played in front of 11,000 spectators at Dubbo's Apex Park.

The Raiders - aka the Green Machine - trounced newly sworn-in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's beloved Bunnies 32-12, an omen perhaps that Labor's election hero might find Canberra heavy-going as he gets to work as Australia's 31st PM.

The May 23 post-election front pages of publisher ACM's daily newspapers in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT

The daily newspapers of publisher ACM represent what you might call a broad church - though not the same "broad church" that former prime minister Scott Morrison backed his bulldozer through at the weekend.

The Monday front pages of our 14 daily papers in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT tell the national story of the 2022 election, with Labor and National strongholds in the regions holding strong, marginal Tassie seats tightly contested, sitting Liberals picking up the pieces after the national rout and declarations of independence in the trailblazing seat of Indi as well as the national capital's race for the Senate.

The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth pictured re-elected New England MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce in a moment of "bittersweet" reflection on page one next to a headline noting his initial unwillingness to commit to the leadership of the Nationals.

"I'll let things settle," Mr Joyce is quoted as saying - perhaps for the first time ever.

Former Nats leader Michael McCormack appears on the front of the paper he once edited, with Wagga Wagga's The Daily Advertiser reporting that the Riverina MP and his Labor challenger both recording swings against them as constituents expressed their dissatisfaction with the major parties.

Mr McCormack acknowledged "we took a bit of a haircut" in first-preference votes but vowed to serve the full three-year term - his fifth - because "voters don't like byelections".

Elsewhere in regional NSW, Bathurst's Western Advocate reported a "clear victory" in Calare for Andrew Gee, with all Nationals MPs looking to have retained their seats in what will be Australia's 47th parliament.

Nationals and Labor strongholds in the regions held strong, as Tamworth's Northern Daily Leader, Wagga's Daily Advertiser and Ballarat's The Courier report.

The Central Western Daily showed Gee supporters at Orange City Bowling Club celebrating the Nats' "iron grip" on the seat despite a strong challenge by a local independent.

The Daily Liberal reported that Mark Coulton won the seat of Parkes for the Nats for the sixth time, securing 64 per cent of the vote, including a majority of votes in three towns he'd not won before: Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Coonamble.

In the Labor heartlands of Newcastle, Wollongong, Ballarat and Bendigo, sitting members were returned and new faces kept the faith.

Under the headline "Paint the town red" the Illawarra Mercury marked the election in Cunningham of Labor's Alison Byrnes, former staffer of retiring MP Sharon Bird.

The Newcastle Herald declared a "red-letter day for Labor in the Hunter" with four Lower House MPs elected, including newcomer Dan Repacholi in the seat of Hunter vacated by retiring former ALP minister Joel Fitzgibbon.

Labor's other three MPs in the region - Paterson's Meryl Swanson, Shortland's Pat Conroy and Newcastle's Sharon Clydon - will be sitting on the government benches for the first time in their parliamentary careers.

In Victoria, The Courier hailed "King crowned" for Ballarat's long-serving Labor MP and likely cabinet minister Catherine King, who recorded a 2.6 per cent swing, and the Bendigo Advertiser had the re-elected Lisa Chesters and her young family all smiles on the front page after retaining Bendigo with a 3.2 per cent swing.

Former Liberal ministers Sussan Ley (Farrer) and Dan Tehan (Wannon) were the the front-page focus of The Border Mail on the NSW-Victoria border and Warrnambool's The Standard on Victoria's south-west coast.

Labor and Liberal wins were covered by the Illawarra Mercury and Newcastle Herald in NSW, The Advocate in northern Tasmania and The Border-Mail on the NSW-Victorian border at Albury-Wodonga.

Mr Tehan's lead in Wannon was "too close to call", The Standard reports, though Tehan is in the box seat with 44.4 per cent of first preferences and already being touted as a potential candidate to lead what's left of the parliamentary Liberal Party.

Under the headline "Sussan eyes Ley of land", The Border Mail reports Ms Ley - having increased her margin by 2.7 per cent in Farrer - has not ruled out a tilt at the Libs leadership herself.

Meanwhile, re-elected Indi MP Helen Haines welcomed the expanded crossbench of so-called teal independents from inner-city Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

"There is no doubt that Indi has led the nation on this," Dr Haines tells The Border Mail of the successful community-driven campaigns for action on climate and integrity.

Further south, The Examiner in Launceston declares northern Tasmania "an island unto itself" with the swinging seats of Bass and Braddon recording swings to the Liberals despite a blue-rinse across the mainland, and the Labor-v-Libs counting close in the seat of Lyons.

"Braddon backs the 'big unit'," The Advocate at Burnie declares of incumbent Gavin Pearce's return for a second term - with Scomo having dubbed him "the big unit" during the campaign that led to his 2019 miracle.

In the national capital, where all three Lower House seats remained comfortably Labor, The Canberra Times features on its front page former rugby union star David Pocock, who looks set to score an upset win over Liberal Zed Seselja in the scrum for one of the ACT's two Senate seats.

With Labor's new finance minister Katy Gallagher a lock for the territory's other Senate spot, Mr Pocock says he's in a "good position" as the counting continues.

In inner-city Sydney, ACM's Northern Beaches Review and Inner West Review have covered the successful local campaigns in Warringah, Mackellar and Grayndler.

Meanwhile, ACM's weekly community titles in inner-city Sydney, the Northern Beaches Review and Inner West Review, are reporting on the Liberal-vanquishing triumphs of their respective local heroes: Warringah and Mackellar independents Zali Steggall and Dr Sophie Scamps, and Labor's long-time Member for Grayndler, Anthony Albanese

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