THE seat of Orange can look forward to the benefits of another four years with an MP on the government benches after Andrew Gee secured a resounding win for The Nationals on Saturday.
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The result was never in doubt, with the only surprise perhaps being that Labor candidate Bernard Fitzsimon did not pick up more of the votes which were lost by Labor’s 2011 candidate Kevin Duffy to Orange mayor John Davis, who stood as an independent that year.
In 2011 Mr Duffy and Cr Davis polled about 15 per cent of the first preference vote each and although Mr Fitzsimon increased Labor’s first preference vote to about 24 per cent on Saturday Mr Gee also increased his and can rightly claim a strong endorsement from voters of his first term.
Winning over 65 per cent of the votes counted on the night and with a win at every polling booth in the electorate, including Glenroi and new western booths such as Peak Hill, The Nationals’ appeal in Orange transcends traditional Labor/conservative divides.
While the state campaign was dominated by the poles and wires debate and on the north coast by coal seam gas development, in Orange these issues were effectively neutralised.
With the area of western NSW supplied by Essential Energy, exempted from Premier Baird’s sell-off plans and coal seam gas exploration not on the agenda here, Mr Fitzsimon had little ammunition with which to attack Mr Gee and the government.
There can be a temptation for governments to take safe seats for granted and that is the danger Mr Gee must guard against and Mr Fitzsimon must watch for, if his enthusiasm has not been blunted.
The campaign has thrown up a host of spending announcements by Mr Gee and the government and his ongoing task will be to meet them.
Voters will be expecting major road works to proceed promptly, a replacement for the XPT to be in service before the 2019 election and for the parking debacle at Orange hospital to be solved - although why they should be expected to wait until after the next election for funding is a question Mr Fitzsimon should have been asking.