Labor's Maryanne Stuart will be the next Member of Parliament in Heathcote after flipping the votes in the northern Illawarra electorate which has been held by the Liberal since 2011.
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After three election campaigns, Ms Stuart looks likely to win the marginal seat, which was one of Labor's must-wins this election day.
At an election party at Helensburgh Tradies, Ms Stuart's supporters were jubilant as soon as result started to flow through, as she dominated across the electorate even in what they said were "the most staunchly Liberal booths".
When she arrived with a huge smile, just as the big screen in the room showed ABC and Channel 9 calling the election for Labor, the room erupted into loud cheers.
An emotional Ms Stuart said she felt relieved, proud and excited to serve her new constituents.
Even as the earliest booths showed her ahead, she said she felt cautious after two previous election losses, but by the time she arrived to greet her supporters all that caution was gone.
"I wanted to play it cool and remain calm," she said."It felt amazing to walk in the room. I wasn't sure whether Heathcote was going to be called tonight, or whether the election was going to be called tonight - but I did say to my husband on the way here I didn't want to wait until next week.
"The fact it's been called so soon is a credit to Chris Minns and all of the team."
Going into the campaign, Ms Stuart had a notional 1.7 per cent margin after Heathcote's electoral boundaries shifted to include the towns south to Bulli.
The seat's boundary previously stopped at Wombarra, and longtime Liberal MP Lee Evans won the last election with a margin of about 5 per cent.
At around 9pm on election night, the prediction was that she's win the seat with a margin of about 10 per cent and her supporter in the room at Tradies said they predicted she could win every booth.
"We have brought Labor back to the Sutherland Shire and respect back to people in the northern Illawarra," she said.
She said her first move as MP would be to go to the train station first thing on Monday morning with a thank you sign, to thank voters for their support.
"I think it's important to have an MP who is on the ground and working at a grassroots level, that's where my strength is," she said.
"I can't believe it. I'm just getting a bit emotional.
"This means nurses and teachers and frontline workers have been heard and they will be seen. We will work very closely with them, they are our frontline workers and they are the ones who have got us through over the last couple of years."
With her seat straddling the national park, Ms Stuart lives in Engadine with her husband Russell, and has two adult children Sarah and Max.
Before she started the campaign, she was working as the lead community organiser at the Australian Conservation Foundation and has previously worked for a number of Labor MPs and as an organiser for the ACTU and Public Services Association.
While she says there's a long list of Australian politicians she looks up to, Ms Stuart said she did not want to forget anyone, so named Jacinta Ardern as a political hero.
"She was so sincere, so personable and when she gave her notice in and a journalist asked how would you like to be remembered, she just said 'for being kind'," Ms Stuart said last week.
"I think that's my thing - I've been a community organiser for 30 years and I am quite personable, so if I'm elected I want to have an open door policy as an MP. I'll have the door open and the kettle on."
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
