Frydenberg did not refer to the teal candidate who has all but certainly beaten him in the election,paediatric neurologist Monique Ryan.
Ryan addressed hundreds of her supporters minutes after Frydenberg admitted it would be difficult for him to retain Kooyong.
“We don’t have a concession ... But I think we know where we stand,” she said. “We’ve made history tonight. Together.”
“I didn’t write a victory speech. I wrote a concession speech and it said ‘whatever happens,we’ll always have Kooyong 2022’. The government wasn’t listening to us,so we changed the government.”
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Frydenberg paid tribute to prime minister Scott Morrison,who is being blamed for the Coalition’s loss,even though he had tried to distance himself from the PM during the six-week election campaign.
Morrison,he said,was “a person of great dignity,a man who loves his family,a person of faith and a great leader”. He thanked Morrison for “leaving our country better than when he came to the leadership”.
Frydenberg’s comments did not receive universal agreement – a man in a Liberal jumper leaned towards this reporter and said Kooyong “didn’t vote against Josh – it was that bloody Morrison”.
With 42 of the 45 booths in Kooyong counted,Frydenberg was on a primary vote of 41.54 per cent and Monique Ryan was on 41.68 per cent.
With preferences taken into account,this placed Ryan almost 9 points ahead of Frydenberg,with a projected two-party preferred vote of 54.53 per cent to Frydenberg’s 45.47. With 16,000 postal votes still to be counted,Frydenberg’s expressed hope of an unlikely win seemed out of reach.
Ryan toldThe Age she was taken aback that her primary vote was above 40 per cent.
“I didn’t think I’d get it,” she said. “I’ve come from nowhere.
“It’s extraordinary. I can’t believe it.”
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“There’s a sense of anticipation. We’ve done the work. We’ve done an incredible job and I’m a bit sad the adventure is drawing to a close. Now we cross our fingers.”
Ryan was in a private room with her advisers until about 9pm when she came downstairs at the Auburn Hotel to speak to her supporters.
Her brother,Peter,cried in her arms.
“I might actually do it,” she said.
Frydenberg spent the evening at home before arriving at his campaign function in Hawthorn at 10pm.
Earlier,Frydenberg had declared himself confident of fending off Ryan,whose challenge turned Kooyong into a serious contest for the first time in history.
Frydenberg criss-crossed the electorate early on Saturday,hammering his “keep Josh” message.
The slogan was introduced halfway through the six-week election campaign in an attempt to differentiate him from Morrison,who is unpopular in the inner-east Melbourne seat,where many voters are fiscally conservative but socially progressive.
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Peter Dutton now appears in the box seat to become leader,as Scott Morrison announced in his concession speech late on Saturday that he would stand down as leader at the next party room meeting.
Frydenberg,while his hopes were still intact,voted early in Balwyn North,a solidly middle-class part of the electorate where there are more blue posters than teal ones.
“There’s a good mood out there on the booths. It’s a long day,it’s been a long campaign,” he said,declaring himself confident he would remain the member for Kooyong.
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