Labor has dodged a bullet, retaining Rockingham despite a massive drop in their primary vote.
WA Labor called the election theirs at 7.31pm after early voting in the Rockingham by-election showed Labor candidate Magenta Marshall had scored a 49 per cent primary vote – a drop of 33 percentage points cent on Mark McGowan’s 2021 State Election result.
Although the result was likely to go to preferences – the first time since 1996 – Labor was confident Ms Marshall would easily win.
With the Greens travelling at nearly 7 per cent primaries, Ms Marshall was assured victory.
Earlier in the day, there were fears Ms Marshall’s primary vote would fall below 45 per cent.
There were cheers from the Labor faithful, including ministers Rita Saffioti, Sue Ellery and Paul Papalia when WA Labor claimed victory.
“It’s an honour to be the first woman member for Rockingham,” Ms Marshall told the Labor faithful.
“I will work every day to improve the quality of life for the people of this community.
“Our community deserves to have the best education, quality local jobs, strong infrastructure and state of the art facilities and public health care.
“And that’s what they will get with the Roger Cook Labor Government – a government that I am proud to be part of.”