Nickolas Varvaris has said he will repay the faith of voters in the south Sydney seat of Barton after his victory over Labor.
Labor’s candidate Steve McMahon conceded defeat on Monday after calculating Mr Varvaris had an unassailable lead following one of the closest contests of the federal election.
Mr McMahon called to congratulate his adversary with some 5000 votes still to count with the Liberal Party holding an 850 vote lead.
After preferences, by Friday the count was 49.7 per cent to Labor and 50.3 per cent to the Liberals – showing a swing of 7.2 per cent in Mr Varvaris’ favour.
After confirming his victory the former Kogarah councillor told reporters that he was “humbled” by the support the community had given him, and promised not to let them down.
“I intend to be accessible to the public, and to be a strong advocate for them in Canberra,” he said.
Mr Varvaris added that he was also “humbled” by Mr McMahon’s early call.
“It was something he didn’t need to do,” he said. “We discussed it, and agreed we had both done our best.
“There are no hard feelings between us, and we offered each other support for any issues that we think are important for the community that we need to fight for.”
On first preference votes Varvaris lead by 42.3 per cent to Labor’s 40.4 but his lead was whittled away by postal and pre-poll counting.
During the campaign Mr Varvaris – who grew up in the electorate and is the son of a Greek Orthodox priest – told Neos Kosmos that his aim, if elected, was “to serve the community, improve people’s lives, and to make our place a better place to live in”.
Barton’s previous Federal Member was Labor minister Robert McClelland, who retired at the election.