The Liberal's Mark Coure was slightly ahead in the vote count and was expected to retain the seat of Oatley held by him since 2011, but with a dramatically slashed margin.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
There was a swing of 10.84 per cent against the Liberals in Oatley with Mr Coure leading Labor by less than 1,000 votes on preferences with 59.4 per cent of the vote counted as of midday Monday.
Oatley had been held by the Liberals on a margin of 6.8 per cent, election night saw a swing to Labor of 6.8 per cent.
At the close of voting on election night, Mr Coure was expected to secure 50.4 per cent of the voted compared witth Labor's Ash Ambihaipahar with 49.6 percent, on a two part preferred basis.
Independent Natalie Mort, who campaigned on rebuilding the Carss Park Pool and the acquisition of Glenlee at Lugarno, had secured 5.2 per cent of the vote at the close of voting, The Greens Taylor Vandijk 6.1 per cent and the SAP's Glenn Hunt 3.4 per cent.
The 2021 boundary distribution for Oatley saw the Liberal margin reduced from 10.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent with the electorate losing blue ribbon Blakehurst and moving north to take in parts of the traditional Labor territory of Riverwood, Narwee and Beverly Hills.
The election saw both parties focus on Riverwood with big funding announcements for the area.
Labor promised a $4 million upgrade of the Riverwood Community Centre while the Liberals announced upgrades of Narwee Public School, Renown Park and Salt Pan Creek.
Mr Coure also announced at the start of the campaign that the Riverwood Housing Estate redevelopment plan in its current form had been killed-off.
His other big announcements were the $8 million commitment to the upgrade of the Oatley-Como walk and cycle path, and the start of works on stage three of the $411 million redevelopment of St George Hospital.
In the last week of the campaign, Mr Coure also announced a $40 million commitment to the rebuilding of the Carss Park pool.
Both Natalie Mort, Independent for Oatley who represents the Georges River Residents and Ratepayers Party as a Councillor on Georges River Council, and Labor candidate and Georges River Councillor Ash Ambihaipahar both committed to the 'No more than four storeys' campaign for Mortdale, gaining support of the Save Mortdale Village Community Group.
Labor's Ash Ambihaipahar also campaigned on the rebuilding of Carss Park pool, a $60 weekly cap on tolls, bringing back of express train services and no privatisation of Sydney Water.
By late Monday, Mr Coure led by 254 votes with 78.2 per cent of the votes counted.
