Brendan Nelson’s leadership of the Federal Coalition has taken a massive hit with a by-election loss in Lyne and a narrow win in Mauo.
Independent Rob Oakeshott appears to have blitzed the National Party held seat of Lyne with 74 per cent of votes two party-preferred.
While Liberal Jamie Briggs has been pushed over the line in the previously blue-ribbon seat of Mayo, left vacant by Alexander Downer.
Liberal MP Joe Hockey has told Channel Ten it’s a good result considering the circumstances.
“What we saw in Mayo, overnight, was the impact of having eight candidates preference against the Libs.”
“You even had the Greens giving preferences to One Nation ahead of the Liberal party,” he said.
“There was never going to be a chance that we were going to retain our margin in Mayo.”
Meanwhile, the West Australian election is still up the air with Labor appearing unlikely to be able to gain more than 27 seats.
The Liberals are likely to take 25 and the Nationals four with two independents and another seat to be decided.
