Barry O’Farrell is now the premier of New South Wales after outgoing NSW premier Christina Kenneally formally conceded defeat in the NSW state election.
Political analysts were predicting a Coalition victory but no one could foresee the enormity of the massacre suffered by the Labor party by the hands of NSW voters after 16 years of Labor domination in the state.
Labor suffered a huge swing of around 17 per cent against it and lost dozens of formally safe seats. The Labor party is set to losing 31 of the 50 seats its held in the state leaving it with just 19 with the Liberal / National party having around 71 seats in a 93 seat parliament.
Ms Kenneally told a sombre audience at the Randwick Labor Club that “tonight we acknowledge and accept the verdict of the New South Wales people.”
