Labor secures a remarkable result after an unremarkable campaign

Dominic Perrottet has resigned as leader of the Liberal Party as Chris Minns becomes the next premier of NSW after voters allowed the Labor Party to form a likely majority government. 

“The people of New South Wales voted to put in a government that put people at the heart of all decision-making, and we will not let them down,” Minns told supporters on Saturday night after he received a congratulatory call from Perrottet.

Minns thanked Perrottet for his service and said that the “respect and civility” in this campaign was a model for the way democracy can be “done right” across the country.

“I can’t say that every election campaign in the future will be conducted the same way but, from now on, no-one will be able to say that it can’t be,” he said.

The outcome was a “decisive vote” against privatisation, Minns declared.

“To retain Sydney Water and Essential Energy in the NSW government and to put it into the constitution and to never sell it and stop the future governments from selling the assets that we need to live, thrive and survive in New South Wales,” he said.

Some key losses for the Liberals include former trade minister Stuart Ayres’ seat of Penrith, Riverstone, Heathcote, East Hills, Monaro, Parramatta and South Coast.

Seats like Willoughby and Pittwater saw a weaker turnout for the Coalition, and could be called beyond this evening’s count deadline, while Treasurer Matt Kean remains hopeful the seat of Ryde could still be in play.

Crikey was at the Liberal event at the Hilton in Sydney’s CBD, the Greens party at the Annandale Hotel in the city’s inner west, and Labor’s celebration in Bright-Le-Sands. 

The Liberal function was a sombre affair — one supporter told another that it looked like a “chainsaw massacre” as the results rolled in. Former prime minister John Howard arrived to the sounds of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” followed by the outgoing premier who conceded defeat and offered kind words about Minns.  

Perrottet told the crowd the Liberals and Nationals had made history by serving 12 years in office and keeping NSW “strong, free and fair”. 

“Our record is one of infrastructure, of investment, of imagination,” he said.

“We have rebuilt this state from the ground up with the biggest building agenda since Federation.”

He warned supporters of the Liberal Party that the next chapter would “not be easy but it will be necessary” before resigning as leader of the party. 

Reporters were directed to a media pen at the event but at the Greens function journalists were allowed to roam free-range. 

There, Greens federal Senator Mehreen Faruqi introduced returned NSW MLC Cate Faehrmann who told the crowd the Greens had increased their vote.

“More people have come to the Greens than they have in any previous election,” she said to cheers. 

But despite the swing towards the party, the Greens look unlikely to convert those gains into more seats.

It was a disappointing night for One Nation. After being hyped in friendly sections of the media as a potential major player in the new Parliament, the Mark Latham-led wing of the far-right party looks like it will only pick up one seat despite a small increase in primary vote.

As projections started to roll in, moderate Liberals offered their post-mortems. Federal Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg told the ABC that the key takeaway from both the 2022 federal election and this evening’s result was that the Coalition should dispense with “culture war” issues and return focus to city voters.

Over on Sky News, the takeaway was the opposite: the party had let down the right wing of its party, and it would do them well to head further into the margins.