By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
AFTER one of the longest campaign and election periods in Australian history, this past weekend saw the Labor Party leader Bill Shorten concede defeat to the Coalition.
The division of Casey also looks to also deliver a Liberal win with a margin between the two major parties of just under 10,000 votes as of Monday 11 July.
The vote counting in Casey is still officially underway and the final results won’t be known for some time but Labor candidate Hovig Melkonian said the result so far has been positive.
“I think overall we’ve got a swing to Labor in the electorate and nationwide,” he said.
“It is credit to things Labor were talking about in the campaign such as Medicare, Gonski funding and all these things resonated with the community and, as a result, we had a swing to Labor.”
Mr Melkonian also said that despite the ever increasing possibility of Labor being defeated in Casey, this election has not dampened his political enthusiasm.
“This has definitely not put an end to my political aspirations, we’ll be back,” he said.
“Tony Smith has promised a lot over next three years and I’ll he holding him to account that those promises are delivered in full and in a timely manner.”
With a current 3.4 per cent swing away from the Coalition, Mr Melkonian said the focus of the Labor campaign led to a move away from coalition candidates across the country.
“The people have rejected the shallow message of jobs and growth while Labor’s message for Medicare and school funding, real reform for negative gearing and hard questions like multinationals paying their fair share of tax resonated with the community,” he said.
Mr Melkonian said he is grateful for the support he received from his supporters during the election campaign and in the lead up to election day.
“Locally we ran a huge campaign and the swing towards us is a positive result,” he said.
“I give full credit to all the volunteers and the immense support we received from the community.
“I’m very grateful for this and I’m humbled by all the people who put trust in me and the support I received, I am both humbled and grateful.”
Liberal MP Tony Smith declined the opportunity to comment until after the results for Casey have been made official.
