With all votes and preferences officially counted, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has, today, declared the Honourable Barnaby Joyce as the duly elected member to serve in the House of Representatives for the Division of New England once again.
In what was a a resounding result in the seat of New England, Mr Joyce secured 52.22% of the vote, which was more than double the next nearest candidate, Laura Hughes with just 20.32%. The final two party preferred vote tally was Joyce 65.21%, Hughes 32.94% a swing of 1.85% to Mr Joyce.
Mrs Rita Merienne, Returning Officer for the Division of New England, declared the poll results at the Armidale office of the AEC on Wednesday.
- Barnaby Joyce (Nationals) – 59,711
- Wendy Wales (Greens) – 9,023
- Natasha Ledger (Independent) – 4,240
- Laura Hughes (Labor) – 23,233
- Holly Masters (Family First) – 3,641
- Todd Juchau (Trumpets of Patriots) – 3,111
- Brent Larkham (One Nation) – 11,387
“First and foremost, to the people of the New England, it is very humbling to once again be your emissary to Canberra,” said Mr Joyce.
“I say, as I always do, I am your servant. That is the purpose of politics, that is what political offices are all about.”
“Whether it’s people’s NDIS, their pensions, roads, telecommunications, it’s about service and looking after people.”
“Congratulations to the Labor Party who won overwhelmingly. It wasn’t a good campaign for the Coalition, and we have to acknowledge that.”
Mr Joyce also acknowledged the integrity of the AEC staff in delivering an election result in a most diligent and honourable manner and the importance of an election process which values the honesty of these dedicated staff.
Mr Joyce set out a very clear path forward for the Nationals in the New England for the next parliamentary term, with a well-prepared focus on energy transition and the Net Zero strategy.
“In the New England we actually got a swing towards us. In the redistributed area of Muswellbrook, we got a massive swing towards us. One of the key issues for Muswellbrook was the promise of nuclear power stations, because they want the jobs.”
“They already operate power plants. They want these power plants to retain their jobs, the boilermakers, the fitters and turners, the electricians.”
“They know that a power plant has a carpark chock-a-block full of the cars of people on good wages. But an intermittent power precinct doesn’t have this because no one works there,” said Mr Joyce.
Mr Joyce expressed his concerned about the New England being the ‘virtue sink’ for everywhere else, where our agricultural practices and biosecurity are being threatened by renewable power developments – or as he calls them, intermittent power precincts – claiming they result in microplastics and heavy metals entering the environment posing health risks to people and livestock.
“Our role, now, as an Opposition is to hold the Government to account, to clearly ventilate the contrary view on policy, to give the Australian people the right to hear both sides of the argument.”
“Net Zero is not working out well.”
“NSW has approved a nearly ten percent increase to power prices on the first of July, we’re instructed by our livestock assurance that we’re not to raise livestock around the infrastructure due to the toxic effects, we have communities divided, and we have the ridiculous concept of power being sold in five-minute blocks and these multi-billion dollar foreign companies having the capacity to be paid the highest price in the bid-stack.”
“This is a swindle. People are being ripped and hurt. It’s affecting our capacity to defend our nation, our capacity for economic growth, our rural capacity and environment, while putting the price of power through the roof.”
“The majority of the economy of the globe is no longer going along with this. Even countries like New Zealand are pulling out. For my part, I believe that Net Zero is dangerous.”
Mr Joyce will have to make his Net Zero arguments from the backbench, however, losing his Shadow Ministry Portfolio for Veteran’s Affairs in the new shadow ministry also announced today.
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