NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay says she is devastated by the party’s huge loss in the Upper Hunter byelection, conceding Labor’s message failed and they bled votes to One Nation and independents.
Labor’s primary vote slumped to 20 per cent in Saturday’s poll, more than eight points lower than it was in 2019, which will put Ms McKay’s leadership under intense pressure.
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay says she is devastated by the loss in the Upper Hunter byelection.Credit:James Brickwood
Ms McKay said she would not be resigning but the party would need to undergo significant “soul-searching” over the next few days.
“There were an awful lot of people who didn’t vote for us and our message didn’t resonate with them,” she said on Sunday.
“We have some way to go to work out what we do here ... there’s no challenge against me, I am the leader and we will work through what we need to do.
“Many people are shell-shocked because even though it was an impossible task, we didn’t expect our vote would go to independents, we didn’t expect our vote to be torn away like it was.”
Ms McKay said there was hope Labor could claw back some ground because the lost votes had not gone to the government “but it has gone away from us and that’s of great concern.”
She said she was “shocked” Labor had not made the progress it thought it was making.
Despite being in opposition for 10 years, Ms McKay said the byelection came “too soon” for Labor, and it was still working through structural issues that came to light after the 2019 federal election.
When pressed on what the structural issues are, Ms McKay said: “We will talk more about that in coming days.”
The byelection was triggered after it emerged former Nationals MP Michael Johnsen was under police investigation over allegations he raped a sex worker, which he denies.
Those allegations came to light after Labor MP Trish Doyle used parliamentary privilege to reveal a sex worker had told her she was raped by a NSW MP.
Labor’s candidate Jeff Drayton called Nationals’ candidate Dave Layzell on Sunday to concede.
Mr Drayton said the seat was always going to be tough for Labor to win and while the party performed well in some booths, it needed a significant reset.
“Our result yesterday, particularly in Singleton, is a warning to Labor that we can’t take any community for granted,” Mr Drayton said. “Working class communities are hurting, and they’re turning away from this government.
“However, right now, they don’t see Labor as the answer. Labor needs to do some real soul-searching as to how we will win these communities back. It’s going to take honest reflection and a lot of hard work. ”
Nationals leader John Barilaro said Labor’s policies, not Ms McKay’s leadership, were to blame.
“I know there is talk today about Jodi [McKay]’s leadership but you can’t just replace the jockey, the horse is broken,” Mr Barilaro said.
“If you look at Labor’s policies over the last 10 years, they just do not resonate in the regions and the bush, so it isn’t about Jodi, it’s actually about the advice she’s getting from shadow ministers and the policy settings.”
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Alexandra Smith is the State Political Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2021-05-23 05:55:01Z
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