Wilson wins Goldstein
Daniel claimed victory early on election night, but her lead vanished once postal votes were counted.
Liberal Tim Wilson has reclaimed the seat of Goldstein from teal MP Zoe Daniel, while Amelia Hamer is now the “slight favourite” to win Kooyong.
Daniel took an early lead on election night then prematurely claimed victory, but as the postal votes came in her lead vanished.
According to Sky News chief election analyst Tom Connell, with the thousands of postal votes decisively going the way of the Liberals, Daniel cannot recover.
“This was a real grassroots, real community campaign that spoke to hope, the aspirations and the opportunity of what the values of this community can live out and dream and build for the future of this country,” Wilson said on Sunday.
“And that’s why I’m so proud of it, whatever the result is, I’m proud of everything you guys did, and I’m so proud to have stood by you in this campaign.”
Daniel unseated Wilson from Goldstein in 2022 and Climate 200 invested more than $500,000 in her 2025 re-election campaign.
In a post on social media on Tuesday, Daniel said while the media had called the result, she would await further counting, “out of respect for my scrutineers and the democratic process”.
Meanwhile, fellow Liberal candidate in the neighbouring seat of Kooyong Hamer has mounted a strong challenge against teal MP Monique Ryan. Like Daniel, Ryan also celebrated too early and was forced to walk back her victory claims once the postal votes began flowing in for the Liberal Party.
Connell said on Tuesday that Hamer was now “slight favourite” to win the seat, although it was still too close to call.
“Amelia Hamer, she’ll hit the lead in this seat. Then it comes down to some of the other votes that we haven’t counted yet,” said Connell.
“We don’t have any absents in yet. We don’t have any provisional or declaration pre-polls.”
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