The NSW election loss came “quick” and “sudden” for the Coalition after Labor claimed a sweeping victory last night, 9News Chief Political Editor Charles Croucher says.
Labor was handed a majority government after claiming crucial victories in key seats, which will see the party control all states and territories on mainland Australia; the first time it has done so in 15 years.
The loss marked a “real turning point” for the Liberals, Croucher told Weekend Today.
“Are they swimming against the tide of history? What will they do internally? Because there is a big fight going on to turn things around,” he said.
“There will be a lot of soul searching in the Liberal Party and there needs to be a lot of soul searching if they are to return as a force.”
The election was tipped to be close, with Croucher saying former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet needed “everything to go right for him” to win.
“That didn’t happen,” he said.
“The last couple of weeks of the campaign, things started to turn for Labor. What we saw was a shift away from the Liberal Party once again and it happened really across the state.”
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Perrottet has stepped down as leader of the NSW Liberal party following the loss.
“They lost a big chunk of votes last night as well. Two out of three people in NSW are voting for someone else,” Croucher said.
“Dominic Perrottet gave one of the best congratulation speeches I have heard last night.”
Croucher said NSW Treasurer Matt Kean was favoured to become the opposition leader.
“As for the leader, Matt Kean will most likely put his hand up. The Treasurer in NSW tends to replace the leader,” he said.
“Mark Speakman, the Attorney-General and Alistair Henskens is the other name being thrown around this morning.
“We will have to wait and see.”
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