Greens vote goes backwards in NSW mining seats

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The Greens vote in the mining regions of the Hunter and Illawarra went backwards at the election on Saturday, demonstrating support for local jobs over anti-mining scare tactics.

In the seats of Upper Hunter, Cessnock, Maitland, Wollongong, Shellharbour and Keira the Greens vote has fallen, with swings against every Green candidate.

In Shellharbour the swing against the Greens was 5.1%; in Keira the Greens suffered a 2% swing against them; in Maitland the swing against the Greens was 0.4%; in the Upper Hunter the swing away was 0.2%; and in Cessnock the swing against the Greens was 0.1%.

The fall in Greens support in the seats of Upper Hunter, Cessnock, Wollongong and Keira on Saturday follows big swings against the Greens four years ago in these seats, demonstrating indicating the Greens have failed to win back disaffected voters with their scare campaigns.

On current counting, the Greens have also suffered a 1% swing against them in the Upper House, and look likely to fail to win a third seat in the Legislative Council.

“This result shows that voters in mining seats are not fooled by the job-destroying anti-mining rhetoric of the Greens,” NSW Minerals Council CEO, Stephen Galilee said today.

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Chris Rath