Paul J. Berating

Today's Top Stories

⚡ Top Story

One Nation takes Farrer — the bush sends the Liberals a receipt

One Nation's historic Farrer by-election win signals the major parties are bleeding regional seats, with the Coalition copping the worst of it.

Farrer falls to One Nation and the Liberals discover the voters they've been taking for granted have been quietly shopping elsewhere. Menzies built a coalition that held the bush for fifty years. This mob lost it to Hanson at a by-election they didn't even bother turning up for properly.

Guardian Australia · Sarah Basford Canales

Waking up in One Nation country: Farrer hands Hanson the keys the Liberals left under the mat

Pauline Hanson's One Nation has won its first ever lower-house seat in the rural NSW electorate of Farrer, with Coalition MP Colin Boyce now publicly mulling a defection.

Hanson's spent thirty years in the Senate yelling through the keyhole, and Farrer's finally let her in the front door. The Liberals didn't lose this seat — they vacated it, packed up the broad church, and left the keys under the mat. Menzies built a tent big enough for graziers and shopkeepers. This mob couldn't keep a fruit-picker.

SMH · Matthew Absalom-Wong, Chris Paine

Farrer goes orange — the Liberals didn't lose it, they left it

Booth-by-booth data from Farrer shows One Nation's landslide was uniform across the seat, with the Liberal vote collapsing in territory it once owned outright.

Orange everywhere in Farrer — the seat Sussan Ley held onto like a barnacle on a hull until the hull rusted out underneath her. The Liberals didn't lose Farrer to One Nation. They abandoned it years ago and Hanson just walked in and turned the lights on. Menzies' broad church now can't hold a country booth.

The Conversation · Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

One Nation takes Farrer as Liberals lose a seat they thought came with the freehold

David Farley's One Nation win in Farrer is the party's first ever federal lower house seat, and the Liberals' primary vote collapsed to deliver it.

The Liberals have lost a seat to One Nation that they've held since Menzies was in short pants. Hanson's mob didn't win Farrer — the Liberals lost it, and they lost it the same way they lose everything now: by assuming the furniture votes for them. Menzies built a broad church. Sussan Ley's lot couldn't hold a country pew.