O’Connor incumbent Rick Wilson looks set to line up fifth term in the seat as count party heats up in Albany

Liberal incumbent Rick Wilson looks set to secure a fifth term in O’Connor with the projected two-party preferred vote putting him ahead of the competition by 29.92 percentage points on Saturday night. As at 8.50pm, with 57.53 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Wilson was projected to win 64.96 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, a positive swing of 8.27 per cent. Despite leading in the projected TCP vote, Mr Wilson saw a 11.58 per cent swing against him in the primary vote with the most first preferences at 35.51 per cent, down from 44.76 per cent in 2022. Labor’s Darren Moir, a fifth generation farmer and first-time Federal candidate, had secured 17.04 per cent of first preferences with the Nationals’ Heidi Tempra trailing at 12.74 per cent. The mood in Mr Wilson’s Albany office was sombre as the incumbent and his team watched the national result unfold, with Labor leading in 76 seats across the country. “It’s incredibly disappointing at this early stage looking at the national results from the east coast, I’ve got a lot of really dear friends and good colleagues that look like their seats are in trouble,” he said. “The early results coming in from O’Connor look OK, but we’ve still got a long way to go, I won’t be claiming victory anytime soon, but this is politics, it can be pretty tough game, and it’s winner takes all.” Mr Wilson said cost of living had been the big issue raised throughout his campaign, as well as the live sheep export ban. “I think my electorate is different to many of the either metropolitan seats, either on the west coast or the east coast,” he said. “The live sheep issue really resonated across this electorate, and I think if I’m ultimately successful in winning the seat, the rural booths will, I think, be very strong. “Obviously cost of living was important, and the Labor Party convinced people that they were obviously more going to do more for the cost of living than we did, so I would say that was a major contributing factor to the loss.” Mr Wilson said the “nuclear issue” didn’t negatively impact his backing in the electorate. ““I haven’t seen any results come in from Collie yet, but when I do, that’ll be very interesting to see whether there’s a swing to me in Collie because we have put a bit of effort into Collie and I think the people of Collie, personally I believe they are quite receptive to the idea of nuclear energy,” he said. The fourth-term MP said the results of this election would be a key indicator of his future in the electorate. “An enormous amount of water has to pass under the bridge before we think about a sixth term, but I’m still feel young and healthy enough, and I’ve still got the fire in the belly, particularly in representing my electorate,” he said. “The results tonight will be a bit of an indicator if they still want me, if they still support me, then I’ll be here for the foreseeable future. “I believe that I represent their values, and so depending on the results tonight, I think that’ll be shown up.” O’Connor has been a Liberal-held seat since its establishment in 1980, except for 2010-2013 when Nationals candidate Tony Crook usurped Liberal stalwart Wilson Tuckey. The Nationals put forward another candidate in the 2013 election, Chub Witham, but he lost by 1570 votes to Mr Wilson who has held the seat since. Mr Wilson’s popularity has since grown, and he won the last election with 56.97 per cent of the two-party preferred result, beating Labor’s Shaneane Weldon despite an 8.44 per cent swing in Labor’s favour. The Liberal stalwart has had a busy election campaign, which saw him criss-crossing the region from Collie to Kalgoorlie while still finding time to write an op-ed on the Coalition’s nuclear plan. He also promised to bring Albany’s National Anzac Centre under Commonwealth management by the Australian War Memorial if elected plus $6 million in funding across five years in forward estimates to allow free access to families and visitors. The former farmer has been a firm supporter of the Keep the Sheep campaign to stop Labor’s ban on live sheep exports, which has roused Great Southern towns like his hometown of Katanning where sheep outnumber people by 52 to 1. Mr Wilson was up against a relative newcomer in Mr Moir though the two have been acquainted since 2017 when Mr Moir and his partner Nigel Lock publicly called on the O’Connor MHR to support the bill to legalise same-sex marriage in Parliament after 56.2 percent of his electorate voted in support of it. This was Mr Moir’s first attempt at a political seat, one that has never been held by a Labor member. The fifth-generation grain farmer made no public comment in the week before the election after telling the Albany Advertiser he felt it was the “right time” for the live sheep industry “to have a good old look at itself” with a Labor spokesperson telling the Countryman he could not answer further questions on the topic because he was “working on his farm”. He was unreachable on Friday and on Saturday he told the Advertiser he was following the direction of his media team. “My media team handle that and I do the interviews they tell me to do,” he said. “I do as I’m told and I’m part of the system.” Ms Tempra was Mr Wilson’s other threat, with the Manjimup schoolteacher making a second attempt at a seat following her unsuccessful campaign for the Upper House in the recent State election. The Nationals’ policy director, Ms Tempra made her support for regional and rural towns in her electorate clear throughout her short campaign, standing behind the Keep the Sheep campaign and the Coalition’s Regional Australia Future Fund.