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Tom Lee / Stuff
Tasmania’s West Coast Labor MP Damien O’Connor has been re-elected and hopes to have won a cabinet position in the next Labor government.
Damien O’Connor, a re-elected Labor MP from Tasmania’s west coast, is excited about the turn of the party’s vote to Labor across his large constituency.
Labor won 17,859 party votes on Tasmania’s west coast after the preliminary count on Saturday night, well ahead of National in 9974, turning the electorate red.
In 2017, National won what was a close competition for party votes with a final tally of 15,122 to 14,015 for Labor.
“I am very proud that the electorate is voting for Labor again,” O’Connor said Sunday. “People appreciate what we have done as a government.”
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MARTIN DE RUYTER / THINGS
Damien O’Connor, re-elected MP from Tasmania’s west coast, offers to bring a 2kg jar of peanut butter for his “boss”, Labor leader Jacinda Ardern, who was given the spread when she visited Peanut Butter World of Pic in Nelson before the elections.
The result came despite National “scaremongering” in the final weeks of the campaign, on the West Coast in particular, he said.
“That hasn’t worked.”
O’Connor himself was a clear winner as a deputy electorate, garnering 18,275 votes after the preliminary count, 5067 ahead of his closest rival, Maureen Pugh of National.
Labor’s victory on Tasmania’s west coast was reflected in other constituencies across the country in what O’Connor described as “a striking result in all respects.”
“We will have to find a bigger room somewhere [for caucus meetings], “he said.” It’s a clear mandate and, I think, it’s an endorsement of what we did during the Covid situation, but not just Covid, but also White Island and the situation in Christchurch. “
O’Connor, a seasoned cabinet minister whose most recent portfolios included agriculture, biosecurity, food security and rural communities, said he would like to think he had done enough to justify being put back in those roles.
“But those are decisions for the boss, and she will face many new options.”
Jacinda Ardern / Facebook / Supplied
Damien O’Connor with the leader of the Labor Party, Jacinda Ardern, whom he calls an inspiring leader.
When asked what effect she believed Labor leader Jacinda Ardern had on Labor’s outcome, O’Connor said that “without a doubt, she is a unique, outstanding and inspiring leader.”
“Not just for us, but for the world.”
One of O’Connor’s immediate challenges as a reelected MP would be working to help address the “closed border tourism dilemma.”
While domestic visitors were filling in many of the gaps on Tasmania’s west coast, “there is still a reset for many tour operators,” he said.
Other sectors in the region had been less affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, such as the primary sector, although there were potential challenges ahead for the horticultural industry around staffing for labor-intensive jobs such as harvesting. .
“We are aware of that and we are working on that,” O’Connor said. “Maybe we can attract New Zealand kiwis to our region.”
