Janet Mays

Following the distribution of preferences on Friday, it is now clear that Roza Sage is the new Member for the Seat of Blue Mountains. I congratulate Mrs Sage and wish her well in her new role. 

Interestingly, no candidate in this seat achieved anywhere near 50% of the primary vote, resulting in a full preference distribution. The progressive primary vote kept this seat amongst the lowest returns for the NSW Liberal Party in this election. 

As a result Mrs Sage cannot claim to have a mandate in the community she represents. She will need to broadly consult with the people of the Blue Mountains on state-wide changes which will impact locally. For instance, shooting in the National Park and in-park development. The removal of the moderate Liberal Catherine Cusack from the Cabinet, and the abolition of the Environment portfolio, signal dangerous changes within the Coalition Government.

However, with the election of an O’Farrell Government, Mountains residents can look forward to the reclassification of Katoomba Hospital as a rural hospital; the addition of a morning express train to Central and additional funding for our Library services. After publically endorsing these policies during her election campaign, Mrs Sage now needs to provide a delivery timetable for these items. 

The Independent vote in the Blue Mountains was strong in this election, bucking a state-wide trend against Independents. Preferences from local Independent voters flowed abundantly to all other candidates. Our final count was 10,057 votes or 22% of the total formal vote. This is a very strong result and I am very proud of the campaign that we ran. 

I would like to thank those people who voted for me; those who financially supported my campaign and the many volunteers who gave so generously of their time. Independent campaigns rely on community support and my campaign was indeed well supported.

To all my supporters I say this – don’t give up your Independent voice now that Independence has made a great impact in the Blue Mountains.