Liberal candidate Tim Wilson has claimed the inner-Melbourne seat of Goldstein after a neck-in-neck race against teal independent Zoe Daniel.
In a victorious speech delivered in Brighton, Wilson formally declared his win, highlighting the outcome as evidence of his campaign’s “tenacity” in reclaiming Goldstein.
Wilson said it was a privilege to win his seat back and return to public service.
He described his win as “unbelievable” after losing to Daniel three years ago.
“We started the process by listening, by engaging with the community, when everybody had written us off.”
Daniel is yet to officially concede her seat.
Wilson said he wasn’t sure if Daniel had reached out to his team yet as his phone was “blowing up”.
Daniel celebrated a victory on election night but later said the votes were still being counted.
A significant shift in favor of Wilson in the postal votes was sufficient to secure his seat in parliament, with the Liberal candidate leading Daniel by 50.3 per cent to 49.7 per cent in the two-party count, with over 82 per cent of votes tallied.
9news.com.au has contacted Daniel’s office for comment.
