Steve Irons and his wife Cheryle celebrate his win in the seat of Swan.
Camera IconSteve Irons and his wife Cheryle celebrate his win in the seat of Swan. Credit: Supplied/Sarah Motherwell

Swan finally safe for Irons

Sarah Waters, Canning TimesCanning Gazette

‘In the previous elections I didn’t claim the seat because it was so close I waited for the opposition to conceded,’ he said.

‘Now the press tell me they can’t get a hold of my opposition so I’m going to claim it,’ Mr Irons said.

As soon as the results rolled in on Saturday night, it was clear Mr Irons had not only won his third term in office but also enough of a swing in votes to have Swan classed as safe after six years as a very marginal seat.

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‘I’m just humbled by the fact that I’m going back to being in Government, I’ve been in opposition for six years now,’ he told a crowd of supporters at the South Perth Hockey Club.

On Monday, with about 70 per cent of the votes counted, Mr Irons held 55.8 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, a 3.3 per cent swing in his favour.

Labor candidate and Victoria Park deputy mayor John Bissett said despite a great team of volunteers helping his campaign, voter attitudes towards the Labor party, not him, resulted in the election loss.

‘It’s absolutely against the ALP itself,’ he said.

‘Nationally, the division that’s been happening over the past four years has damaged our brand, we’ll have to go into repair mode to make that a better brand,’ Mr Bissett said.

‘It was a marginal seat but unfortunately central office on the eastern sea board didn’t think it was worth throwing any more money at it.

‘Also, the state office only spent a very small amount of money while other seats spent a considerable amount,’ he said.

‘I know Mr Irons has spent $500,000 where we’ve spent around about $65,000.

‘I’m pleased with the outcome but it could have been better.

‘I think we did a damn good job considering the limited budget we had.’

Out of the currently counted 67,052 votes cast for Swan, 5.95 per cent were informal, a one per cent increase since the last election.

Editorial, page 8