Labor has fallen short of a majority government in New South Wales, with the ABC’s election analyst calling two of the remaining three seats for the Liberal party.
One week after the state election, Antony Green announced Holsworthy would be retained by Tina Ayyad, while Adam Crouch holds the Central Coast seat of Terrigal with a lead of over 1,000 votes.
Terrigal had previously been held by the Liberal party with a margin of 12.3 per cent.
Green said Labor could not form a majority if it held either 45 or 46 seats, with Ryde the last seat remaining in doubt, and at this stage “it’s unclear who will win”.
The result has the Coalition with 35 seats, the Greens with three, and nine won by independents.
A woman on the left and a man on the right
Voting has come down to the wire for Lyndal Howison and Jordan Lane in Ryde.
Green said around 320,000 postal and declaration votes are being added, and electorate winners are likely to be finalised for all of the Legislative Assembly roles.
NSW Labor currently holds 45 seats, two less than required to form a majority government.
The ABC understands the government will not make any deals to pass legislation, but will consider each bill on its merits and vote accordingly.
Earlier in the week, key independents Alex Greenwich, Joe McGirr and Greg Piper issued a statement offering “confidence and supply” to the government.
The people Labor will have to court if it’s going to pass its legislation through the lower house.
Speaking from Tasmania on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese congratulated Chris Minns, calling the result “outstanding”.
“He clearly will have a workable majority. There are people on the crossbench who’ve signed up to confidence and supply very early on,” he said.
“And he will do what my government does, which is treat people with respect across the parliament.
“I’m convinced that Chris Minns will be a great Premier of New South Wales. And I look forward to working with him.”
After 87 per cent of the votes were counted in Ryde, by Saturday afternoon, Green said Jordan Lane led by about 232 votes for the Liberals, overtaking Labor’s Lyndal Howison due to postal votes.
The seat was previously held by retired MP Victor Dominello with a margin of 8.9 per cent.
In Holsworthy, Liberal candidate Tina Ayyad has held the seat for the party. Although Labor secured a swing of 5.3 per cent, it wasn’t enough to get it over the line.
Ms Ayyad is a former Liverpool councillor and deputy mayor who won preselection for the seat against long-serving Liberal MP Melanie Gibbons.
The premier — and seven members of his ministry, including Deputy Premier Prue Car, were sworn in by Governor Margaret Beazley at Government House on Tuesday.
Earlier projections had Labor winning the necessary 47 seats to form a majority government.
