CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Federal Labor backbencher Joel FitzGibbon has threatened to walk away from his own party for the 356th time this morning, after learning that a state electorate of mostly polo horse breeders and hobby farmers have decided to vote the same way they have been voting for the last century.
Honest Joel says Labor’s “devastating” loss in the NSW Upper Hunter by-election is “a very bad result” for the party, who haven’t held the seat since 1910.
As the Federal MP for a nearby region, made up of a lot more people that work with their hands, Joel FitzGibbon says this by-election result means ‘the base is walking away’ – while also declaring that the NSW Labor leader should not quit.
This means todays’ comments basically translate to ‘I don’t know what is wrong, but something is wrong, and i’m worried I’m going to lose my job’.
The Upper-Hunter Electorate, The takes in the Dungog Shire, Muswellbrook Shire, the Liverpool Plains Shire, a stretch of the mid-north coast and sliver of outer Singleton – has somehow became a performance review for the Labor Party – even though there were 6 different independents having a crack as well.
Labor’s primary vote slumped to 21 per cent on Saturday, down from 28 per cent at the previous election, while the Nationals candidate David Layzell claimed about 30 per cent of first preferences.
Mr Fitzgibbon says NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay isn’t to blame for the loss and that Labor’s “brand” is the problem – and that they aren’t doing enough to appeal to blue collar mining communities, even though most of the Upper Hunter electorate is made up of rolling hills and puffer jackets.
It is not yet known what FitzGibbons wants from his party, considering Labor literally ran a CFMEU official and lifelong coal-miner in this by-election that saw voters spread thin across 13 candidates, only to lose to the Nationals, who had previously held the seat, for 111 years.
MORE TO COME.
