The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has labelled his government’s byelection results “disappointing across the board” after earlier vowing to win back voters who handed Labor the seat of Bega in Saturday’s byelection.
As early counts showed the government had suffered double-digit swings in two of four Super Saturday byelections, the government has resigned itself to losing Bega for the first time since the seat was created in 1988.
By midday on Sunday, with 25% of the vote counted, Labor’s candidate Michael Holland had picked up a 14% swing which will see the opposition win the seat barring an overwhelming shift back to the Liberal government when postal votes are counted.
At a press conference on Sunday, Perrottet did not seek to sugarcoat the loss, calling it “particularly disappointing” while adding that byelections were traditionally difficult for incumbent governments.
“There is certainly messages for us to look at in terms of what we are doing on the ground,” he said.
“In addition to that, I think ultimately when you are in a pandemic you are going to make decisions from that time to time will be unpopular. Our job as a government is to take our state through and we are doing that.
“Every seat is different. But obviously Bega was particularly disappointing yesterday.”
On Sunday the Labor leader, Chris Minns, said the result was a message for the premier to “lift his game and listen to the people of NSW to do better at his job”.
“It is no good for hundreds of thousands of people to register their unhappiness with the direction of the government and then for the senior levels, including the premier of NSW, to simply say nothing has changed, we don’t hear the message at all,” he said.
“We want the NSW government to do better. That may sound strange for the opposition to say that but we are in the middle of a pandemic and our focus is on the people of NSW.”
On Sunday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, pointed to the retirement of some “very, very successful local members” when asked about the swings against the Coalition in the state byelections.
“Gladys Berejiklian, a former leader, John Barilaro, a former Nationals leader and you can expect that in those seats there was a very strong following for both of them,” he said.
The four Super Saturday byelections had been seen as the first test to Perrottet’s leadership since he became premier following the resignation of Berejiklian in September.
In counting on Sunday, Labor appeared to have won Bega from the government and retained the seat of Strathfield, while the government was on track to retain Monaro and Willoughby, despite the latter recording an 18% swing away from the government with 32% of the voter counted.
Official victors were unlikely to be declared in the seats for some time, with an unusually high proportion of postal votes cast, which will not start to be counted until 19 February.
However, early results pointed to Labor’s Michael Holland winning Bega, with a 14% swing to Labor in votes counted on Sunday night.
Losing the seat would plunge the government further into minority, with 45 of the 93 lower house seats, however they would retain a one-seat working majority thanks to the support of former government MPs turned crossbenchers Gareth Ward and John Sidoti.
It would be the first time Labor has won Bega, which was previously held by the former transport minister Andrew Constance, who resigned to contest the next federal election.
After congratulating Holland, Perrottet insisted he would “always do what is right over what is popular”, vowing to win back the votes the government had lost.
“I want to make this commitment to the people in every one of those seats today, those who haven’t voted for the Liberals and Nationals ... I will continue to work day in and day out to win back your vote and win back your trust,” he said.
“We will always do what is in the best interests of the people of our state.”
Speaking on Saturday night, Holland said he would represent the community as the first Labor MP for Bega, describing the vote as a “plebiscite” on the state government.
“It’s been an incredible swing to our party,” he said.
“It’s been a reflection of the community’s response to the current government and our need to be heard with our concerns.
“It’s time to celebrate a bit of history.”
The Liberal candidate, Fiona Kotvojs, however, did not concede and said she would wait for postal and pre-poll votes to be counted.
Minns said voters were telling the government they were not happy.
“This was a message sent by the electors directly to the premier of NSW to lift his game and to make common sense decisions and not trust his ideology or his gut,” he said.
“We need to be honest about the message also for NSW Labor. It is not yet a mandate for office for us. We’ve got 12 months to do it. We’re determined to do it. That fight starts tonight.”
Labor looked likely to retain the seat of Strathfield, where the former UN lawyer Jason Yat-sen Li had been campaigning against the Liberal candidate and businesswoman Bridget Sakr.
Sakr – whose 11-year-old daughter died with three others when they were struck by a drunk driver in 2020 – was considered a strong candidate who some believed could seize the seat following the departure of the former Labor leader Jodi McKay.
Yat-Sen Li praised the Strathfield community for making it through a tough two years and vowed to bring “competence, integrity and value” back to the government.
While the Liberals’ Tim James was expected to retain Berejiklian’s former seat of Willoughby, early results showed an 18% swing to the independent candidate Larissa Penn. Labor did not contest the seat.
Meanwhile, Nichole Overall looked likely to become the first woman to represent the people of Monaro, with the Nationals on track to hold the seat of the former deputy premier and party leader John Barilaro, despite a 7.7% swing against the party in early counting.
“We always know how difficult byelections are and when you’re facing four at the same time I think it is a big impact,” Overall said.
Polling stations were unusually quiet on Saturday after the NSW Electoral Commission sent all registered voters a postal vote pack. Usually they need to be requested.
With the deadline for postal votes extended until 25 February, and postal votes not being counted until 19 February, official results will not be known for some time.
