NATIONALS MP Pat Conaghan says he is ready to “get to work” after retaining the seat of Cowper for the National Party after Saturday’s federal election.
“With the polls results now locked and the last of the postal vote counts trickling in, it’s time to declare Cowper as ‘Nat Retained’ and accept the role of your local MP in the 48th Parliament of Australia,” Mr Conaghan posted to social media.
“Representing Cowper in the halls of Parliament has been an honour and a privilege for the past six years, and I am extremely humbled to have been given the opportunity to continue to fight for what we need and deserve on the Mid North Coast, while representing our regional ideals and values.”
As of Tuesday, Mr Conaghan had claimed 53.17 percent of the two-candidate preferred count over Independent challenger Caz Heise (46.83 percent).
The same pair had another close contest for the Cowper seat in the 2022 election.
This time around Mr Conaghan won 38.76 percent of first preference votes, with Ms Heise taking 29.69 percent.
The next closest challenger was Labor’s Greg Vigors, who received 11.45 percent of the vote, while One Nation’s Chris Walsh claimed 6.24 percent.
The remaining seven candidates all received less than five percent each.
Ms Heise congratulated Mr Conaghan on his re-election in a statement to media, and thanked her family and volunteers for their support during the campaign.
“While this isn’t the result we hoped for, I’m so proud of the campaign we’ve run,” she said.
“From the beginning, it’s been grounded in respect, listening to the needs and hopes of our communities, and showing that a different way of politics is possible.”
After two hard-fought campaign battles, Ms Heise announced she would not be contesting Cowper on a third occasion.
“I’ve decided this campaign will be my last as a candidate,” she said.
“Cowper might not have been ready for change this election, but we are not a safe seat.
“We have thousands of people ready to continue the fight against the status quo, and I have no doubt there will be another brilliant community independent candidate ready to lead our movement into the next federal election campaign.”
