LISA O’Malley believes she or one of her campaign volunteers knocked on nearly every single door in the Bicton electorate on their way to what appears to be a sweeping win for WA Labor tonight.
With nearly 60 per cent of the vote counted the Melville councillor led Liberal Matt Taylor by a formidable 4.3 per cent, a swing of 14.3 per cent, and she climbed on stage at the Bicton-Palmyra RSL to claim the seat.
Mrs O’Malley paid tribute to the more than 120 volunteers who helped her run what she called “a solid, grassroots voter engagement campaign”.
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READ NOW“That’s been our point of difference, getting out and talking to people,” she said.
“It’s amazing the number of people that still weren’t decided even up until this morning and to me that really reinforces the value of the door knock.”
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Mrs O’Malley has been a long-running opponent of the Perth Freight Link, which at one point threatened homes and businesses in her home suburb Palmyra.
When it was clear Labor would win the election, she received rapturous applause when hoisting an altered campaign sign reading: “Only Labor has stopped Roe 8 and the Perth Freight Link.”
An active member of the Palmyra community for more than two decades, including as co-convener of a long-running neighborhood newsletter, Lisa O’Malley swept to an easy victory in her bid to become a City of Melville councillor in 2015.
Prior to that she fostered a reputation as a schools campaigner, serving as a State councilor on the WA Council of State Schools Organisation and both the Melville Senior High School and Palmyra Primary School P&C committees.
With 40 per cent of the vote still to count Mr Taylor refuses to concede the seat although defeat seems likely.