Penrith By-election

MEDIA RELEASE Penrith by-election: Greens vote surge, bad news for Labor in Balmain The doubling of the Greens vote in the Penrith by-election underlines the level of voter anger with Labor and indicates a likely Lower House breakthrough for the party in the NSW 2011 state election. With 60 per cent of the vote counted the Greens candidate Suzie Wright has received 12.6 per cent. At the 2007 state election the Greens received 5.5 per cent of the vote in Penrith. Labor’s vote has halved to 24 per cent of the vote. The Liberals won with a primary vote of 50.9 per cent. “Labor’s failure to address the needs of Penrith and western Sydney has resulted in the crash in the government’s vote,” Ms Wright said. “Although the Liberals have received a massive swing I believe this was a vote against Labor rather than a vote for the opposition. “The swing to the Liberals is more than 20 per cent on the two party preferred vote. “The collapse of Labor’s vote puts the government and the opposition on notice. This area needs a major upgrade of public transport services. Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said that today’s results for the Greens suggests a strong result at the 2011 state election. “The Greens beat Labor in all four lower Blue Mountains polling booths. “Penrith is not normally a strong seat for the Greens so the fact that we have more than doubled our vote is very encouraging. “These results will be unsettling for Labor in state seats like Balmain and Marrickville where they are under threat from an increasing Greens demographic. “These results are in keeping with recent polls that have had the Greens between 13 and 16 per cent of the vote. “The Greens have also received a strong result in the Hawkesbury City Council by-election with our candidate Danielle Wheeler gaining 23 per cent of the vote. This is up from 10 per cent in the last local council election,” said Ms Rhiannon. For more information – 0427 861 568 — Another message from the Greens Media mailing list. Too many messages? Don’t unsubscribe – try switching to a daily digest. You can unsubscribe or change your subscription settings here: Or send an email to