Firstly, the electorate of Nicholls owes a big thank you to the massive effort put in by Rob Priestly, his family and huge band of “orange” volunteers.
This campaign has put the seat of Nicholls “on the map” after years of neglect, slashing the National Party’s margin from 20% to under 5% and making the seat marginal, all in a period of less than six months.
Rob won more than 25% of the primary vote from scratch, while Sam could garner only 27% with all the bribes, underhand tactics and party machine dollars at his disposal.
It has generated a movement of people who want better representation from our federal representatives and better outcomes for the region.
Best of all, the "Rob Priestly for Nicholls" campaign was run professionally without any resort to the grubby tactics employed by some of his opponents.
Secondly, to the successful candidate, Sam Birrell.
Many people, including Ernesto, were appalled by the sneaky, grubby tactics employed by your party.
This “win at all costs” mindset prevalent in the major parties is one of the reasons many good people disengage from politics.
Sam, your task now is to rebuild trust among the thousands of voters who were disgusted by this grubby campaign and to work hard to deliver the promises made during the campaign — not an easy job from the opposition benches.
You will not be able to take the electorate for granted, as there is an "orange army" watching your every move that will be better prepared for the next election in 2025 should you fail to deliver.
Ernesto wishes you all the best.
Thirdly a message to the people of Nicholls who voted for the status quo.
It is a well known fact that doing the same thing over and over then expecting a different result is futile, yet by electing Sam Birrell (who is an intelligent man), you have delivered this electorate the worst possible result.
What the seat of Nicholls has been delivered is a rookie politician, in a climate change-denying minor political party, sitting on the opposition benches.
Sam's chances of getting anything out of the government for this area will be at best, extremely limited.
At the end of the day, the representative we have been delivered in Nicholls will be voting the same way as Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and other climate change deniers in their party — not a good outcome for this region.
Finally, thankfully this election has delivered a Labor Government, replacing the worst Federal Government and Prime Minister in living memory.
Ernesto's message to Anthony Albanese: Don’t stuff it up!
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