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Australia is still without a clear election winner, and experts have labelled the fallout a “big mess”.
It could be weeks before a government is formed, and a hung Parliament is still a possibility.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he’s confident the Coalition will gain a majority, but the shock result in Tasmania has taken the nation by surprise, and leaves no Liberal lower house representatives in the state.
Tasmania’s three outgoing Liberal MHRs – Andrew Nikolic, Brett Whiteley and Eric Hutchinson – have blamed an effective health scare campaign on their loss.
Psephologist Kevin Bonham says polling before the election in Tasmania was “systematically wrong”.
Lyons was the only seat tipped to change hands, but all three Liberals were given their marching orders by voters.
Mr Hutchinson, who has not yet formally conceded, said he fell prey to the Medicare scare campaign but was proud of his own record.
“I have no regrets about any decision I made or the way that I’ve conducted myself or the things that I’ve been able to achieve for the electorate,” Mr Hutchinson said.
Mr Nikolic said he felt honoured to have represented Bass.
He said the campaign run against the Liberals, particularly by Get Up!, was “appalling and deeply personal.”
Newly elected Bass MHR Ross Hart said it was regrettable the Liberals didn’t recognise the role they played in their own downfall.
“Whilst they were denying cuts to health, there were nurses and specialists and allied health professionals at the LGH who knew that there’d been cuts to health, who knew that they were being required to deliver more services with less and in those circumstances Get Up! was perfectly entitled to run an issues-based campaign around health.”
Vote counting continues on Tuesday.