Leichhardt MP Matt Smith, pictured with Kluthuthu Christian College students and staff in Napranum on Friday morning, says it is a case of “sworn in, now the fun begins” after the AEC declared the result of the northern electorate on 5 June. Photo: Supplied.
It took 33 days, but Leichhardt officially has a new king after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) finally declared the result of the 3 May federal election last week.
Labor’s Matt Smith was formally announced as the winner of the 10-candidate race to replace long-serving MP Warren Entsch on 5 June after securing 56.06 per cent of votes in the two candidate preferred count, 11,454 votes ahead of the Liberal National Party’s Jeremy Neal.
Besides the two major parties, Phillip Musumeci (Greens) and Robert Hicks (One Nation) were the best performing candidates and garnered 9.29 per cent and 8.01 per cent of first preference votes respectively.
Speaking to Cape York Weekly in Weipa following the declaration, Mr Smith admitted it had been frustrating waiting for the declaration when the result had been clear within days of voters visiting the ballot box last month.
“We just got on with it,” he said, referring to him and members of his now-team hitting the ground running on western Cape York last week.
“The first week (after the election) we were kind of like, ‘oh, when’s it gonna happen, when’s it gonna happen?’; you’ve just got to do the job; the community expectation is that you’re an elected official, get out there and do what we’ve asked you to do, so, that’s what we’ve been doing.
“It was great that we were able to get up here so soon.”
The new Leichhardt MP had a varied first visit to the region, from meeting key community and business leaders, to playing basketball with primary school students and attending the Western Cape Careers Expo.
It is understood Mr Smith will take over Mr Entsch’s former electorate office on Mulgrave Road in Cairns, and he said he was committed to being a readily approachable representative of the region.
“It’s important that the communities up on the Cape see me and feel that they can have those conversations,” he said.
“Once we get the office open and some contact details, we’ll let everyone know how to find us.”
On the subject of getting to every corner of his gargantuan 150,000 square kilometre kingdom, Mr Smith was sanguine.
“Pat the dogs on the head and tell them they’re not going to see me for a couple of weeks is basically where it’s at,” he said.
“You’ve just got to do it, you know; we’re scheduled to go up to Cooktown and Wujal Wujal [during Discovery Festival week], Cairns for a week and then Torres Strait for a few days; it’ll just be a lot of travel.
“I’ve been elected to represent people, and I need to be where the people are; I can’t just assume that they’re going to make the phone call to someone they’ve never met before.”
And his motto for the next three years?
“Sworn in, now the fun begins,” he laughed.
