With former Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis not recontesting,Ms Phillips beat high profile Liberal candidate Warren Mundine with a 3.6 per cent swing.
Mr Mundine,a former national president of the ALP,had been handpicked by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to run instead of the pre-selected candidate Grant Schultz,who declared"you can't bully your way into a seat".
The seat became one of the messiest contests in the country when Mr Schultz stood as an independent,then former state minister Katrina Hodgkinson ran for the Nationals,with former Liberal MP for Gilmore Joanna Gash as her campaign co-ordinator and the endorsement of Ms Sudmalis,who had cited"bullying,betrayal and backstabbing"by party colleagues when she quit.
Ms Phillips,a mother of four teenagers who grew up on a dairy farm near Nowra,was delighted to return Gilmore to Labor for the first time since 1996. But as she watched the count on Saturday night,Labor's poor performance nationally made it bittersweet.
"I was mainly focusing on Gilmore and watching the results come in,"Ms Phillips said."We had great results in some booths that we'd never won before.
"That was totally amazing but then every now and again we'd flick over to another seat. Warringah was amazing but to see some of the other seats was very disappointing."