By Oliver Winn
Aaron Violi retained the seat of Casey against Labor’s Naomi Oakley amid a Liberal fallout this election.
He said he was honoured that the community has re-endorsed him for the next three years.
“I’m very pleased locally that it looks like I’ve been able to increase my margin, it’s something I’ll never take for granted,” Mr Violi said.
The ABC’s initial election results forecasted Mr Violi to hold the electorate, but a midnight scare saw Ms Oakley briefly in front of the Liberal incumbent by a fine margin.
But Mr Violi said he was confident he’d pull through in the end.
“I was never nervous. I understood the mechanics of, you know, Boronia being a tough pre-poll for me. If it had been flipped and the Lilydale pre-poll had been added before Boronia, it would have changed that margin. But I know my booth in areas well enough to understand what was happening.
“So I was confident once the Lilydale pre-poll was added to the count, it would show the true reflection of the result.”
When asked about what went wrong nationally for the Liberal party, Mr Violi said it was too soon for him to tell.
“48 hours after the result, I’m not going to be making an analysis of what went right and what went wrong publicly.”
“There’s lots of lessons that we need to learn and diligently work through, understanding what happened here in Casey. Some areas moved away from me, some came to me strongly, so I want to understand that unique dynamic locally.”
Despite that, he said it was obvious the Liberal party needed to change to ensure it can face Labor in three years.
“Clearly we need to change when you get a result like this, as a party to make sure we can be a strong opposition and a strong government again.”
Mr Violi said there was a number of reasons why he maintained the seat of Casey and that he’d focus on continuing to be a strong voice for the community for the next term of government.
“The constant feedback I got from community members was that they appreciated that I was a genuine third generation local who’s engaged with the community.”
“I will continue to be out there and be a strong, authentic local voice, making sure Casey’s voice is heard. But I do know that for Casey to be strong, the nation has to be strong, and I passionately believe that we need a strong opposition and a strong Liberal government into the future.”
He also thanked the other candidates who ran for the seat of Casey and the members of the community who didn’t vote for him.
“I wanna acknowledge all the other candidates and also acknowledge that while I was lucky enough to get the majority support of the community, there was many that didn’t support me and that’s okay.”
“My role three years ago when I was elected was to represent every community member in Casey, not just those that supported me and I’ll continue to do that.”
