Mike Baird might have won the state election, but Labor’s Jenny Aitchison took the seat of Maitland in Saturday’s vote.
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The Thornton businesswoman was in front from the very first count, widening her lead as the night ticked on.
By 7pm, independent Philip Penfold had admitted defeat and within hours Liberal candidate Steve Thomson did likewise.
Ms Aitchison waited until the seat was safely hers before she made a grand entrance at the Labor election night party at Easts Leisure and Golf Club.
“It’s fantastic,” she said after her party entrance.
“It is a clear message that the Maitland community does not want privatisation of the electricity network, we want our public hospital to remain in public hands and we don’t want broken promises.”
The swing to Labor in the seat was more than 18 per cent with the most recent NSW Electoral Commission recording 65.27 per cent of the vote went to Labor, compared to the Liberals’ 34.73 per cent.
These figures will change as pre-poll votes and postal votes are added throughout the week, but it is safe to say the victory went to Labor.
The new MP’s first order of business will be to get an office, an easy task compared to sitting on the opposition's bench after Mike Baird’s Liberal government won the election.
“We will still have a voice in government,” Ms Aitchison said.
“The last four years our voice has had laryngitis.
“Now I am here to stand up for the community and there is strength in numbers.”
Labor took more than 30 seats in the lower house, a big jump from the 20 it had last term.
Voters seemed to already have their minds made up when they went to the polls.
Election day volunteers reported that most voters walked straight past them to place their votes.
Ms Aitchison said the clear move back to Labor, after the Liberals’ Robyn Parker held the seat for the last term, was down to the issues of electricity privatisation and the Newcastle train line truncation.
“I think it really did come down to privatisation, but issues of trust, the brown paper bags and ICAC really played a part,” she said.
“Voters were saying tell us what you are going to do and then we want you to actually do it.”
Despite being relatively new to politics, Ms Aitchison said the past 15 months of campaigning and visits to the city from shadow minister had been good training.
She said she would hold the Baird government to all its promises for the area and where she sees a need she will advocate strongly.
“In the Hunter we’ve borne the brunt of Liberal ideology,” she said.
“At the end of the day they are in government and we will hold them to account.”