By JESSE GRAHAM AND MELISSA MEEHAN
PARLIAMENTARY Speaker and Liberal MP Christine Fyffe looks set to retain the seat of Evelyn.
While less than 60 per cent of the vote had been counted, Mrs Fyffe had a substantial margin.
“What the final margin will be will have to wait – around 10,000 votes still to be counted,” Mrs Fyffe said on Monday.
“(On election day) it felt like a good response.”
The news is bittersweet for Mrs Fyffe, who said she was very disappointed that her side had lost.
“But we are a democracy and the people have spoken,” she said.
“The conservative Liberal Party has to go back to the drawing board and present a strong alternative at the 2018 election.”
Mrs Fyffe said she would continue to advocate for her community, and make sure Labor adhered to all of their election commitments.
“As always, I will be advocating on behalf of residents in my community,” she said.
“On a broader perspective, the issue of illegal drug use and mental health is becoming much bigger, as the crime stats released today show – it’s something I care passionately about.”
While the former Swinburne site was set to shape the vote of Evelyn, Mrs Fyffe said that it didn’t have much effect on her vote.
She highlighted that Independent candidate Anthony McAleer, who stood on that issue alone, had only received 300 votes so far.
“I think people saw that I had been fighting hard to get Box Hill TAFE,” she said.
“I will of course be watching with great interest how they can manage that – because Swinburne owns the land and the buildings.”
Her role as Speaker is also set to end when parliament resumes, with the party in power choosing the Speaker.
