By JESSE GRAHAM
THE Australian Electoral Commission has formally declared the seat of Casey for Tony Smith, with more than 90,000 votes counted for the area.
On Friday, 22 July, Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Casey Divisional Returning Officer Sally-Ann Cook declared Mr Smith as officially re-elected to the seat for the next three years for the Liberal Party.
Ms Cook declared the results of the election at the AEC’s Divisional Office in Ringwood, with Mr Smith and two members of his staff present.
In first preference votes, Mr Smith received 45,679 votes, while Labor’s Hovig Melkonian received 26,164; The Greens’ Dr Elissa Sutherland received 10,778 votes, Animal Justice Party candidate Kristin Bacon received 4181, independent Peter Charleton received 2879, while Rise Up Australia’s Angela Dorian received 2554.
On a two-party preferred basis, Mr Smith received 51,696 votes, 56.05 per cent of the vote, while Mr Melkonian received 40,539 – 43.95 per cent.
Of the 95,848 votes cast in Casey, 3613 – 3.77 per cent – were informal.
“It’s an enormous honour and very humbling to be elected as a member of the House of Representatives, particularly in my case for the sixth time as the member for Casey,” Mr Smith said in a victory speech at the declaration.
“I’m very conscious I’m the only person to have been elected six times into that position.
“Members that have been elected look at the history of our country – we’ll have a new members seminar in a few weeks – and they’re always surprised to be told that it’s not many more than, I think, 1100 or 1200 people that have served in our houses of parliament since federation.”
He said his victory was a time to look towards the coming three years in office, rather than reflecting on the campaign that had been run, and thanked his supporters, staff, family and AEC staff.
Mr Smith made particular note of the supporters on the ground on Election Day, who handed out how-to-vote cards at polling places.
“No matter how hard a candidate works, no matter how much information you send out, you simply cannot be elected unless you have the support of a few hundred people, so that is very humbling as well,” he said.
Mr Smith will retain his role as Speaker in the House of Representatives until a vote is held before parliament sits on 30 August.
