THE Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) officially declared Anne Aly was elected to represent the federal seat of Cowan today .
On a two-candidate preferred basis, the Australian Labor Party candidate secured 50.68 per cent of the votes, or 41,301 votes, compared to incumbent Liberal candidate Luke Simpkins who had 40,195 votes following a 5 per cent swing against him.
Dr Aly said she was glad the AEC declared the result of the July 2 election following almost four weeks of counting and gave her keys to the electorate office at Kingsway Shopping Centre in Madeley .
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READ NOW“It will mean I can get started and I can get my teeth into it,” she said.
As an Opposition MP, Dr Aly said one of the first things she wanted to do was to follow up on promises the Coalition Government made before the election, such as upgrading the Wanneroo Road-Ocean Reef Road intersection.
“I will be following up and holding them to their word on those,” she said.
Dr Aly said many people had contacted her about getting the NBN sooner in suburbs such as Greenwood.
“I want to hold a forum on that and look at some possible solutions and what we can do,” she said.
Her other focuses included improving youth employment and education opportunities, and addressing social issues such as homelessness and disability services.
In the first preference count, Mr Simpkins received 34,405 votes and Dr Aly received 33,966.