The former Coalition minister Jamie Briggs is arguably the most high profile among a string of Coalition MP defeated after a nationwide swing against the government of 3.6%.
Briggs, who resigned in December 2015 as the minister for cities after an incident in a Hong Kong bar with a female public servant, had held the South Australian seat of Mayo by 12.5% but lost to the Nick Xenophon Team candidate, Rebekha Sharkie, who managed a swing of 18.5%.
The former Liberal party chief whip Andrew Nikolic was another high-profile casualty. His Tasmanian electorate of Bass, which was held by a margin of 4%, went to the Labor candidate, Ross Hart, who won a 9% swing on the two-party preferred count.
Brett Whiteley, the Liberal MP in Braddon in north-west Tasmania, lost his seat to Labor’s Justine Keay after a swing of almost 5%. The seat was previously held by a margin of 2.6%. And in Lyons in central Tasmania, Eric Hutchinson lost to the Labor candidate, Brian Mitchell, with a swing of about 4%.
Natasha Griggs, the Country Liberal party MP in the Northern Territory seat of Solomon, was defeated by the ALP candidate, Luke Gosling, after a swing of more than 10%. The scandal plagued NT government – which most recently lost a sitting member after it emerged he sent video of himself masturbating to a female constituent he said he was having a relationship with – has been blamed by all sides for the significant swing against Griggs. Neither she nor prime minister Malcolm Turnbull sought to defend the Adam Giles led parliament during the campaign. Griggs had also faced dissatisfaction locally, for long delays in building the Palmerston hospital, and unmet commitments on housing and health facilities.
In Queensland, the LNP’s Ewen Jones was facing defeat by the Labor candidate, Cathy O’Toole, in Herbert with a 7.6% swing and Michelle Landry was losing her seat of Capricornia to Labor’s Leisa Neaton with a swing of 1.1%. In Longman, Wyatt Roy lost out to Labor’s Susan Lamb with an 8% swing.
In the NSW bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro, the Coalition MP, Peter Hendy, was defeated by Labor’s Mike Kelly, who had previously held the seat from 2007 to 2013. The western Sydney seat of Macarthur also changed hands with the Liberal party’s Russell Matheson losing to Labor’s Mike Freelander after a swing of 11%. In Macquarie, the Coalition’s Louise Markus faced the loss of her seat to Labor’s Susan Templeman after a 6% swing.
There were also high-profile losers who were not the sitting member. Liberal Sophie Mirabella failed to wrest the seat of Indi back from Cathy McGowan, with the independent looking as though she would increase her majority when final results are in. The independent Tony Windsor, a former MP, did not give Barnaby Joyce the hard time in New England that many were expecting, with the deputy prime minister easily holding on. Another former independent MP Rob Oakeshott, who unexpectedly came out of retirement, lost out in his bid for Cowper.
