In The Daily Examiner today "Shellshocked Gulaptis camp closes ranks":
"Down the road, in the Nationals camp, a little before 7pm and with barely one per cent of the vote counted, Page Nationals campaign director Murray Lees leaned towards Mr. Gulaptis and advised 'we're in trouble'.
Standing in his Lismore campaign office, surrounded by about 20 volunteers and party faithful, Mr. Chris Gulaptis still had some reason to hope Ms Saffin's early lead might be reversed, but it was a bad start.
"It's going to be tight", Mr. Gulaptis said.
Half an hour later, and with two per cent of the votes in, the tears streaming from wife Vicki Gulaptis' eyes said it all...Mr. Gulaptis and his campaign party watched in horror as polling booth after polling booth were lost to Labor."
In The Northern Star today:
"THERE were scenes of jubilation at the headquarters of Richmond MP Justine Elliot on Saturday night as Labor recorded a landslide victory at the polls.
Ms Elliot, who retained her seat, put on beer and pizza at low-key celebrations at her South Tweed campaign office as polls started emerging in her favour. Labor supporters had spent much of the evening quietly dissecting the televised election coverage.
However, the subdued celebrations soon turned rowdy as news of Labor's decisive win filtered through the crowd.
Supporters erupted in spontaneous applause and cheers when Labor officially declared victory about 8."
The Northern Star articles on Richmond and Page today:
http://www.northernstar.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3756412&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
http://www.northernstar.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3756414&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
http://www.northernstar.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3756414&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
"The Nationals once held all five coastal seats in NSW north of Newcastle, but now hold only two. In the northern NSW seat of Page, where the Nationals MP, Ian Causley, had retired, the former upper house Labor MP, Janelle Saffin, won with a swing of more than 8 per cent.
"People here had been expressing their desire for change throughout the election," she said. "From what I saw, the Nationals had really lost touch. We see ourselves as a rural area. But the Nationals just weren't having the conversation that the people wanted: on the cost of living, on Work Choices, health and education."
The Sydney Morning Herald article yesterday:
