Labor holds on

By Lia Bichel
THE votes are in, and while much is left undecided, members of the Labor Party had reason to celebrate as they held onto their seats across Greater Dandenong.
Isaacs MP Mark Dreyfus, who said he was “feeling good” before the election, was re-elected with 50.45 per cent of the votes.
“I thank the local community for electing me for another term. It’s been a real privilege to be a member for Isaacs and I think the strong swing to me indicated local people agree with what I stand for – jobs, education reform, health and putting a price on carbon.”
Mr Dreyfus said while he was pleased with the Isaacs result, he could not fully celebrate yet.
“It’s been difficult to have a full celebration because of the national result. The next couple of weeks will be testing,” he said.
“In order to concentrate on improving health and economy, we need to form a (Labor) government. I have grave concerns about what Tony Abbott would do if elected.”
Mr Dreyfus also said he thought people were pleased with the Labor Government’s handling of the Global Financial Crisis.
“I think people have seen the physical demonstration of the Labor Government’s response to the GFC and it reminds people of our strong response and how we support jobs.”
Liberal candidate for Isaacs Dale McClelland came close with 34.5 per cent of the votes.
Mr McClelland said he had “mixed feelings” about the result.
“The voters’ wishes should always be respected, after all it is they who make the final decision and no government should ever take the people for granted,” he said.
“(It’s) not a great result personally in Isaacs, however history has been made with the Australia-wide result in that a first-term government has been rejected by the people. Tony Abbott has done a tremendous job in such a short time.
“Irrespective of the result, we have all seen democracy at work and the people have sent a strong message that they don’t like to be taken for granted by an arrogant government such as we’ve had for the past two and a half years.”
Mr McClelland said he now planned to spend more time with his family and looked forward to watching “how the negotiations unfold in Canberra over the next week or two”.
Other Isaacs candidates, Chris Carman from the Australian Greens received 10.3 per cent of votes, Heather Wheatley from Family First received 3.43 per cent of votes, while Independent Gordon W. Ford received 1.33 per cent.
Bruce MP Alan Griffin from the Labor Party was re-elected with 46.69 but with a swing of -2.16. Mr Griffin said he believed the main issues which would affect how people would vote were health, education, the economy and leadership.
Liberal candidate for Bruce Mike Kabos came second with 37.17 per cent of the votes. Stefan Zibell from Australia Greens received 9.1 per cent and Felicity Hemmersbach from Family First received 4.05 per cent.
In Hotham, Education Minister Simon Crean held the seat with a 55.54 per cent of votes, and Liberal candidate Fazal Cader received 32.3 per cent.
Geoff Payne from the Australian Greens received 9.56 per cent of votes, Gary Ong from Family First received 1.95 per cent and Trent Reardon from the Secular Party of Australia received 0.66 per cent.