Live Results: Australia federal election 2025
Crossbench still has a role to play — Teal MP sayspublished at 12:22 British Summer Timepublished at 04:22
Finbar O’Mallon
Reporting from Melbourne
Speaking of Kooyong, we’ve just nabbed current MP, independent Monique Ryan.
She’s been roaming the room as it waits to learn if she will hold her seat.
“I’m hoping that we’ll have a strong cross bench, that we’ll be able to hold the government to account on the things that matter to electorates like here,” she told the BBC.
“[That’s] action on climate change, on intergenerational equity… and action on the pressures people are experiencing on the cost of living.”
As she talked to us, the ABC called government for Labor.
The current counts put Ryan slightly ahead of Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer, with about 75% of votes yet to be counted.
If she retains her seat, Ryan’s bargaining power would have been stronger in a minority government, but she’s confident she and the crossbench would still have a role to play.
“It changes things,” Ryan said. “The cross bench didn’t have the balance of power last time, [but] I think we proved effective for our electorates.”