While they didn't come close to being elected, the Illawarra Greens were celebrating anyway on election night as candidates across the region improved their margins.
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On Sunday, Cunningham candidate Dylan Green was just 2500 votes behind the Liberal - improving the party's margin from last election by about seven per cent.
While postal and pre-poll votes are still being counted, the Greens had had a 6.71 per cent swing towards them in the northern Illawarra seat. The Greens had their highest share of the vote since the by-election win of Michael Organ in 2002.
Joining supporters at a function in Fairy Meadow, the buoyant young candidate said he hoped the increased Greens vote sent a message to the two major parties.
"I think there's real mood for change, people want a fresh face and new ideas and I think the Greens are really presenting that," he said.
"I hope it sends a clear message to the Labor Party to pull their socks up and start really acting on things like climate change, respect for women, integrity and all the things that the Greens are really campaign hard for.
"I hope it leads to a better parliament."
Cunningham member-elect Alison Byrne said that Mr Green was her de facto opposition in the race.
"They have become almost the quasi-opposition for me during this campaign, because of the Liberals absolute neglect of our region, the failure to show up and the failure to debate ideas," she said.
Ms Byrne said the absence of the Liberal candidate benefited Mr Green.
"I know a lot of Liberal members were really disappointed."
Whitlam candidate Jamie Dixon said he had never seen such a positive response to the Greens during the campaign.
Mr Dixon grew the Greens share of the vote in Whitlam by 1.19 per cent, taking over 10 per cent of the vote.
The other minor parties, in both Cunningham and Whitlam, also increased their numbers. There was one exception, with the United Australia Party in Whitlam going backwards by 3.3 per cent.
The successful candidate, Labor's Stephen Jones, said that there's no doubt there's a section of the electorate that is dissatisfied with politics and government.
"Some of the voting is an expression of the 'Stuff the lot of you' vote," he said.
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