COUNTRY Labor Party candidate for Myall Lakes, Dr David Keegan said the result was a sign of change in the community.
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"The campaign for a Fair Go for Myall Lakes was in response to community outrage to cuts to local essential services, such as the women's refuge, Nita Reed Community Dialysis Centre and the Manning Hospital," Dr Keegan said.
"The 2015 election campaign changed the seat of Myall Lakes from a very safe Nationals seat to a marginal seat.
"More than 50 per cent of voters were in favour for a change of representation."
Dr Keegan said the limited budget of the campaign led to an effort to meet and hear from local residents at a grassroots level.
"The campaign by Country Labor was carried out on a very limited budget, funded by the candidate, local ALP branches and members," Dr Keegan explained.
"I met with people by attending local markets, letterboxing a community survey, phone calls and meet the candidates forums and listened to their concerns.
"It was unfortunate we didn't have the chance to debate important local issues, as the sitting MP only attended three out of eight candidate forums.
"Issues raised throughout the campaign were electricity privatisation, coal seam gas, cuts to health, education/TAFE, women's refuge, disabilities services, lack of adequate road/infrastructure funding, absence of support for Greater Taree City Council mayor and job creating projects.
"I would like to thank the voters of Myall Lakes, for the vote for a fair go.
"A special thank you to the members of Forster/Tuncurry and Taree ALP branches, and the legion of volunteers.
"The fight for Myall Lakes must continue."
"AS far as the Greens go, I'm over the moon," said Greens candidate for Myall Lakes, Stephen Ballantine.
"The results for the Greens show a turn away from the main two parties.
"For us to win two seats on the North Coast was big.
"We held our numbers (in Myall Lakes) despite the big swing to Labor."
"The big swing away from Stephen Bromhead and The Nationals shows the discontent the public has and they'll have to work on that."
"DOWN on the farm (Saturday) night, there was a deep sense of satisfaction as we saw the massive correction back towards the centre last night," said Steve Attkins.
As of Sunday 2pm, the seat of Myall Lakes has the highest swing against any retained seat in the entire state of NSW, with Port Macquarie having only a 9.9 per cent swing against the Nationals .
"The Manning Valley and Great Lakes communities have expressed their dissatisfaction with outcomes for the region in a stunning 20.8 per cent loss of margin for the current sitting member.
"We have far outweighed the State trend, with the swing back to centre being more than double the State average of around nine per cent.
"My number one hope is that Myall Lakes will get more of a look in now when it comes to funding. We have seen how very safe seats are never on the top of the funding lists, and now we may well just see some real action.
"Increased community focus on funding can only help to avoid a 'business-as-usual' mentality in the coming four years.
"Congratulations to Dr David Keegan for a great campaign, and great commitment to his region. His work on supporting his community, including the base hospital, and raising issues around health was most welcomed.
"Labor had a very strong campaign, and the big advertising spend in the final days with the statewide swing towards them clearly helped their numbers.
"I note that The Greens candidate, Stephen Ballantine also did well in the election and his contributions enriched the debate on many issues along the way.
"It was gratifying to see action and funding promises from the re-elected sitting member in the final weeks of the campaign on health, policing and water security in particular. I hope the gains our electorate has seen from this election cycle will be lasting ones."
"The old style of voting in this region really has changed," continued Steve.
"In future years I can only hope there will be more politically engaged members of our community taking an interest in the important policies and issues which confront us now and into the future.
"Thank you to all my supporters. We made a great difference. It has been an education process and I think many voters have a better awareness of the political process.
"I'd hoped to do better, and was looking for better result, but I will always remain pleased that the independent concept has maintained traction."
Resources from the campaign, including radio and television interviews are available at soundcloud.com/steve-attkins-campaign and on the youtube.com website.
Articles reviewing the election will remain at www.steveattkins.com.
Mr Attkins will continue his work in economic development for the Manning Valley Business Chamber and at the Great Lakes Winery in Wootton.