By DANIELLE GALVIN
McMILLAN MP Russell Broadbent rounded off a strong victory in the seat he had held since 2004.
Mr Broadbent said there was an “extremely strong personal vote” which got him over the line in what was a low-profile campaign in his seat.
“La Trobe led a very high-profile campaign, we chose not to,” he said.
“We led a very low-profile, grassroots campaign which has been going for three years, not three months.
“All of our hard work has paid off.”
Mr Broadbent said he was thrilled and humbled with the results that he had tripled his margin and taken the seat on primary votes.”It was the largest swing of a sitting member in Victoria,” he said.
The two-party preferred figures showed Mr Broadbent at 62.06 per cent to push out Labor candidate Anthony Naus.
Mr Broadbent said from Pakenham to Warragul represented an important slice of McMillan.
Aged care facilities, health care and disability services were also some projects in his sights.
Mr Broadbent said the voting public were “politically exhausted” with the campaigning.
“They had had enough of the rambling within the Labor Government,” he said.
“They wanted a secure and stable government and to get on with governing the country.”
Surprising some political observers, Mr Broadbent preferenced the Labor Party second.
“My preference doesn’t get counted – therefore I wanted to make my cards as easy as possible,” he said.
Mr Broadbent said voters came up to him on Saturday at the voting booths and told him them he had their support.
“It was very humbling and complimentary,” he said.
