Teal looks to shut out Liberal challenger as ALP retains Western Australia
Teal Independent Kate Chaney looks on track to shut out Liberal rising star Tom White in Curtin as Labor retains its stronghold on Western Australia.
Chaney is predicted to retain the seat – a blue-ribbon locale home to some of the Liberal Party’s most affluent backers – for a second term running.
With more than 60 per cent of the vote counted, Chaney will retain the seat on preferences after securing a 5 per cent swing.
Many looked to Curtin as a bellwether seat for the Liberal Party, or as a potential fuse breaker of power if results became tight towards the end of the first night of counting.
“Tom White is a future leader of the party,” says Nine’s Political Editor Charles Croucher.
“If he can manage to get in. Right now, the projection is that Kate Chaney is in front.
“Again, if you can’t win the seat of Julie Bishop, if you can’t win the seat that Gina Rinehart and Twiggy Forrest lives in, it’s hard for the Liberal Party to win an election.”
Across the rest of WA, the ALP maintained its hold on the state, retaining almost all of the seats it won at the 2022 election.
Sam Lim, a former dolphin trainer, is on track to retain the seat of Tangney, which he picked up in a huge upset in 2022.
ALP candidate Trish Cook is ahead in Bullwinkel against Liberal candidate Matt Moran, with more counting to come.
In a rare bright spot for the Liberal Party tonight, Andrew Hastie retained his seat of Canning and a healthy 7.2 per cent swing in his favour.
Hastie’s win also puts him in the leadership race for the party, given Peter Dutton lost his seat in Dickson, a historical first for an opposition leader.
He will face strong opposition from other frontrunners in Angus Taylor, Dan Tehan and Jane Hume.