Rob's Election Statement

Independent Member for Lyne, Rob Oakeshott, has thanked the community for its support in Saturday’s federal poll and vowed the interests of the nation and the Mid-North Coast will be “top of mind” over the coming days.

“The past few weeks have been hectic for a lot of people, including the candidates, who wanted to ensure everyone had a choice on Saturday,” Mr Oakeshott said.

“To those who chose an Independent voice in the Australian parliament, I offer my sincere thanks. Your trust and support are appreciated.

“I particularly want to thank the army of volunteers who made up the Oakeshott Independent team, and who put in many hours during the campaign and on polling day.

“It’s a privilege to share Saturday’s victory with each and every one of them, many of whom put in long hours on polling day to ensure voters had the support they needed to make their ballot count.”

Mr Oakeshott also thanked the other candidates for a local campaign focused on issues, rather than personalities.

“We enjoyed several robust debates at 10 Meet the Candidates functions throughout the electorate, where local issues were the focus of discussion; not hair colour, gender or personality contests,” Mr Oakeshott said.

“Health, telecommunications, infrastructure, workplace relations … all issues important to our region, now and in to the future, received healthy attention from the candidates, which was refreshing against national campaigns that lacked vision and policy.

“As a result of Saturday’s poll, we find ourselves in a unique situation, where the national political focus has narrowed to a handful of seats represented mostly by Independents.

“I want to assure everyone that along with the national issues of stable government and good policy-making, the needs of our region will be top of mind during discussions with Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott this week,” Mr Oakeshott said.