NSW has a new government

NSW voters have spoken and they’ve decided that Labor will govern our state for the next four years with Chris Minns to be our new Premier.

Prue Car, local member for Londonderry will be the Deputy Premier in the new state government.

Before election day was over, in what could only be described as a bloodbath for the Coalition, Labor had easily raked up enough votes to know they would be forming government.

On Monday Premier Chris Minns said Labor’s first piece of legislation will be to protect Sydney

Water in the constitution.

“There’s not a moment to lose, and my team and I are ready,” Mr Minns said.

“Ready to deliver for the people of our state, no matter who they voted for.

“And ready to take immediate action, to tackle the challenges our state is facing. We will work for you, every single day.

“And that starts right now.”

Former Premier Dominic Perrottet thanked his family, volunteers and former leaders when he conceded. He also announced he would be stepping down.

“It has been an absolute honour and privilege, the greatest honour and privilege that I have had in my entire life,” Mr Perrottet said.

95B Station St, Penrith

The voters of NSW have spoken and they’ve decided they want a change in government. A big congratulations to Prue Car in Londonderry, Karen McKeown in Penrith and Tanya Davies in Badgerys Creek.

The flow of the votes across the state indicated very early that NSW was ready to welcome Chris Minns as their new Premier and leader of a new government.

At the time of going to press everything pointed towards a sweeping success for Labor with huge swings across the state, however some key seats were still in doubt. All political eyes will be on those final numbers because it could still leave Labor needing to form a minority government if they fail to win a couple more of the remaining key seats.

In my view one of the greatest highlights of this election is in having Member for Londonderry, Prue Car, appointed Deputy Premier. It was evident from the minute counting began that Prue Car was going to blitz it in her seat of Londonderry. It is great to have someone from our area not only representing us locally but also holding a leadership position that has a lot of say in how the state will be run. I know Prue will serve us well.

Congratulations to Tanya Davies who pulled off what seemed the unthinkable - a swing towards her as a Liberal when the rest of the state was swinging the other way. I wish Tanya all the best in her bid for Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Party; she will no doubt be a formidable opponent for Labor and hold them to account.

Congratulations to Karen McKeown on winning the seat of Penrith. It was a close battle with the swing being teeny tiny compared to most other seats in the state. I believe Karen has some big shoes to fill in unseating our member for the past 13 years, Stuart Ayres, but Karen has served this city as a Councillor and as Mayor so she will bring that experience into the job. I wish her all the best in her new position and look forward to seeing what the next four years brings.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Stuart Ayres for his long-standing representation in Penrith. If there is a more focussed and dedicated politician than Stuart, I don’t think I have met them yet. he served this area extremely well and should be proud of all that was achieved.

Politics is a thankless job, and even those who throw everything they’re made of into it never seem to get the level of appreciation they deserve. The public can be lethal in their assessment. I take my hat off to all mentioned above for having the guts and resilience to enter political life.

Noteworthy is that our local leadership is now all female. Prue Car, Tanya Davies and Karen McKeown as state representatives join our Mayor Tricia hitchen and federal representatives Melissa McIntosh and Marise Payne.

It is a new start for NSW.

Democracy is in action, let’s hope the right choice has been made.

Good luck and all the best to all our returning members and new parliament members.