The Liberals were left soul-searching in the Hunter and across NSW after a dismal showing at the polls which some party members blamed on a drift to the left.
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When the counting stopped at 10.30 on Saturday night, six of the Hunter's seven Labor MPs had increased their winning margins beyond 20 percentage points.
The conservative vote halved in Port Stephens from 39.9 per cent of first preferences in 2019 to just 20 per cent for Liberal candidate Nathan Errington.
The party won Port Stephens from opposition in 2007 and held it in 2011, but Labor could have a 20-point margin in the seat when the dust settles on the 2023 vote.
The Liberal vote was seven points down in Charlestown, six in Lake Macquarie, four in Maitland, five in Newcastle, five in Swansea and seven in Wallsend.
Liberal parliamentary secretary for the Hunter Taylor Martin said a mood for change among voters, high-profile controversies in the government, senior cabinet retirements and belated candidate nominations had hurt the party.
"The biggest factor on pre-poll was the 'it's time' factor," he said.
"To have a right-of-centre government for 12 years in Australia is quite a rare thing.
"We were not able to depict the Minns team to be a risk to the state."
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Asked if Dominic Perrottet should have found time to visit Newcastle during his 536 days as premier, Mr Martin said: "Yes.
"I get it, you're very busy, but if you're the premier of NSW, you've got to turn up at some point to the second biggest city in the state."
The Liberals named some of their Hunter candidates, including Mr Errington, hours before the NSW Electoral Commission closed nominations on March 8.
The party did not preselect a local candidate in Lake Macquarie but drafted in Joshua Beer from Sydney. He had won 8.9 per cent of the primary vote by close of counting on Saturday.
"The admin, the vetting took a ridiculous amount of time, and it resulted in many candidates being announced on that Wednesday a few weeks ago," Mr Martin said.
"Those processes will be a consistent point of feedback from branches across the state. As soon as the federal election was over last year, we knew we had to start selecting and endorsing candidates. There was a lot of discussion about that, and it simply didn't take place."
Mr Martin said the party would regroup and renew its energy after the defeat.
"Whenever the Liberal and National parties have a setback there's always a left-versus-right debate," he said.
"It will always rage on when we don't do well, but it's a false dichotomy. We do best when we have candidates and members of Parliament who speak up for their communities."
Lake Macquarie councillor Jason Pauling said the party had shifted too far left.
"For me, that's one of the key issues. I have found that quite difficult, as have a number of other members and representatives of the party," he said. "That moderate versus right tension has meant some compromise, and I think the party lands in no man's land."
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Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
