Victorious Holt MP Anthony Byrne, centre, is joined by Leanne Petrides, Josephine Byrne, Kevin Bradford, Keith Pimpbett, Nicholas, Judy Owen and Kevin Lay on Saturday night.
By Callan Date
ANTHONY Byrne rode the wave of positive sentiment towards the ALP during Saturday’s Federal election by recording one of the biggest swings in Victoria to comfortably win Holt.
Mr Byrne easily retained his position as Holt MP after registering a swing of more than a 10 per cent towards his party.
Holt is now a safe seat for the ALP. Before the election it was one of the most marginal seats in Australia.
Mr Byrne said he was grateful to the people of Holt for returning him as their local representative.
“I think the resulted reflected the profound move for change in the community,” he said.
“There were significant issues in the mortgage belt area of the electorate that people wanted addressed.”
Mr Byrne campaigned strongly throughout and was helped by visits fromALP leaders Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in the lead-up to the election.
He said any possible position on the Government’s front bench would come second to effectively representing the people of Holt.
Defeated Liberal candidate Emanuele Cicchiello said he got swept up in the big swing against the Coalition.
“I’m disappointed that the government wasn’t returned,” he said.
“There was definitely a mood for change on election day and I think people were just tired of the previous government.”
Mr Cicchiello extended his congratulations to Mr Byrne and urged him to effectively represent his constituents in Holt.
Greens candidate Lynette Keleher and Democrats candidate Ken Seymour both lost ground, while Family First candidate Yasmin De Zilwa improved her party’s position slightly.
