Elsie Lange
Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate and Bulla resident Bernie Finn said he has requested a recount of the Victorian western metropolitan region’s election results.
The Victorian Electoral Commission finalised the voting for the upper house on Wednesday morning, with Finn finishing in sixth spot in the western metropolitan region. There is five seats in the upper house for the region.
The hard-right, long-serving politician was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party earlier this year for disobedience around controversial social media posts on abortion.
He later announced his leadership of the DLP and stood for the same region he has represented for many years.
His Liberal Party replacement, Moira Deeming, has secured her seat.
He described the margin between himself and second Liberal candidate Trung Luu as “very close”. Mr Luu, a Brimbank councillor, was the fifth person elected to the western metropolitan region.
“We believe that a recount is required,” Mr Finn said.
“We believe that it’s quite possible that a bundle or two or three would make the difference here, that’s how close it is.”
He said it was just hundreds of votes between the candidates, in a region of hundreds of thousands of voters, so the difference was “minimal”.
“I haven’t given up yet on western metro, if we get a recount, anything is possible at that point,” he said.
“If my time in the parliament is over, I will happily accept that. It was 30 years ago I was first elected to parliament and it’s a bit draining at times.
“I won’t have any hesitation in accepting that if that’s the case. I will move onto the next phase of my life.”
The VEC has been contacted to find out more.
