Vince Catania snatches back lead in North West Central after election night Labor scare

Nationals member for North West Central Vince Catania was on Monday clutching on to his seat as he narrowly led Labor’s Cherie Sibosado by fewer than 100 votes. The North West Central seat was one of the tightest in Saturday’s Labor landslide State election victory, and on Monday was still down to the wire with just over 50 per cent of votes counted. ABC Pilbara, Ngaarda Media and Labor supporters called the seat for Ms Sibosado on Saturday night, but by Sunday morning had backtracked as the true nature of the contest became clear. Mr Catania reclaimed the lead from Ms Sibosado on Monday as early votes heavily favouring the incumbent were counted. At 1pm he was ahead by 0.77 per cent of a two-party preferred basis. Results so far showed the electorate’s Pilbara towns including Onslow, Pannawonica, Paraburdoo and Tom Price heavily favoured Labor, while coastal towns Carnarvon and Exmouth backed Nationals. Kalbarri was included in the electorate for the first time, where residents were evenly split between the two parties. Alannah MacTiernan joined Ms Sibosado in Carnarvon on Saturday where they “cracked open the Moët” as hundreds of Labor supporters flooded social media to congratulate the Carnarvon resident on “her victory”. Mr Catania has held the seat since 2008 when he was elected as a Labor candidate, before he defected and joined the National Party in 2009. He said the key issues in the electorate were worker’s accommodation, housing, and being able to have the infrastructure needed to cope with the amount of people visiting the region. “Worker’s accommodation, housing, lack of affordable housing, lack of land, cost of flights and crime are the major issues, as well as no planning for the future when it comes to making sure that our seniors are looked after, when it comes to aged care in places like Exmouth and Kalbarri,” he said. Mr Catania said during the campaign, voters expressed concerns about the impact of Labor having “too much control” and losing their regional voice. “Clearly people are concerned about the Labor party having too much control,” he said. Mr Catania promised almost $12 million towards restoring and upgrading Carnarvon’s One Mile Jetty and the OTC Dish and the Space and Technology Museum. Other promises from the Nationals included increasing PATS, restoring royalties for regions, and creating an Aged Care Housing Fund to support seniors. Ms Sibosado pledged to improve health care services and education. Promises included a $14 million upgrade of the Minilya to Exmouth road, $5.3m for Tom Price Hospital development, a $7.8m battery energy storage system in Exmouth, a $6m upgrade to Yardie Creek Road, and $600,000 for the development of a science and technology classroom for Tom Price Senior High School. Ms Sibosado lives in Carnarvon and is a member of a well-known Aboriginal family from Lombardina community north of Broome.

Vince Catania snatches back lead in North West Central after election night Labor scare

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