Before a jubilant crowd of hundreds at the Brighton Bowling Club in Melbourne’s inner south, Daniel, 49, claimed victory and promised to be an “honest broker from the cross benches” of parliament. AusPol AusVotes AusVotes22 AusVotes2022
Independent candidate Zoe Daniel has made history, convincingly winning the once-safe Liberal seat of Goldstein and ousting incumbent, Tim Wilson who refused to concede.
In her victory speech Daniel referenced Australian suffragette Vida Goldstein who unsuccessfully contested the seat and after whom it is named.Royce Millar“This will bring hope” she said. “I am here to bring about progress.” “Tonight is going to be one thing – long,” he said. “The good news is despite the challenges we face, we are still, I think, in a very competitive position. The reality is that there are so many results we do not know,” Wilson told the thinning crowd.The Age
Wilson remained dogged on Saturday night in his insistence that the Independent campaign was fraudulent and an “unholy alliance” between GetUp!, Extinction Rebellion and the Greens “all going under one banner to back so-called independents”.But the Coalition strategy of bashing independents as fakes supported by outsiders failed dismally in Goldstein where Daniel reflected local concern about climate, government integrity and gender equality, all issues on which the Coalition was vulnerable.
Her policy priorities have been a 60 per cent emissions cut by 2030, a federal integrity commission with teeth and action on gender equality.