Carles wiped out in close win for Labor

With a little over 73 per cent of eligible votes counted by yesterday morning, Ms McGurk had 7070 votes, or 39.07 per cent of votes.

Proving that Fremantle is no longer the safe Labor seat that it used to be, Liberal candidate Matthew Hanssen gave Ms McGurk a scare, finishing a close second with 6487 votes or 35.85 per cent.

The Greens Andrew Sullivan was third with 17.34 per cent of votes while Ms Carles, facing voters for the first time as an independent since her mid-term defection from the Greens, received only 5.68 per cent.

Ms McGurk, a former Unions WA secretary, said she felt good about the result.

‘I really felt like we had put in a lot of work and so it was a good place to go into on Saturday,’ she said.

‘It’s good to win and it is nice that people have responded to Labor’s agenda for Fremantle.

‘I think we represent balance, we care about environmental issues but we need to effect change and we also represent the need to do something about social issues, to represent people who don’t have much of a voice and education issues.’

Labor won the seat by a similar margin in 2008, where 38.69 per cent was enough for Jim McGintyto edge out the Liberals, before Labor lost the seat to Ms Carles ” then with the Greens ” in the 2009 by-election.

Ms McGurk said returning Colin Barnett’s Liberal Government would have little effect on her role in Fremantle.

‘It’ll make it more challenging there is no doubt about it but it doesn’t alter my resolve to [work on] issues in Fremantle,’ she said.