The weekend results, in particular the way they’re being read, haven’t only confirmed Labor’s trajectory but in doing so, have given the opposition, and Shorten especially, a huge confidence boost.
Late Saturday night, on counting so far, Lamb led the Liberal National Party’s Trevor Ruthenberg by 55-45% on the two-party vote – a swing to Labor of about 4%.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The results are a deep disappointment for the government, which had hoped it might snatch at least one of the Braddon or Longman, and had hopes of winning Mayo although it quickly gave these up.
The byelections, which span four states, are especially crucial for opposition leader Bill Shorten, because four are in ALP seats and two of those are on wafer thin margins.
Liberal backbench senator Dean Smith will challenge on Saturday his party’s decision not to field a candidate in the byelection for the federal seat of Perth.