The Victorian Electoral Commission officially declared Jennifer Kanis the winner of last Saturday’s by-election on Thursday morning.
“It’s terrific,” Ms Kanis tells Neos Kosmos on being elected, and says she is “really honoured and pleased to be elected”.
Ms Kanis edged out Cathy Oke – the Greens candidate – by 1067 votes on a two-party preferred basis.
After a gruelling campaign, Ms Kanis says the hard work is just about to start for her.
“The first thing I am looking to do is to continue what I’ve been doing over the last couple of months which is talking to people in the electorate and and meeting with the various community groups,” she says adding although she knows her electorate well, she wants to get to know them better. And by doing so, she will be able to represent their views in parliament and make sure the policies that they put in place align to Labor values and with what people want in Victoria.
Ms Kanis said as far as her projects go she is going to concentrate on holding “Ted Baillieu to account”.
“There are acouple of things that he’s done that people are unhappy with – the TAFE cuts for instance … we are going to make sure that Ted Baillieu and his government know just how unhappy people are about cuts to education.”
The win comes as somewhat a relief for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, as a loss would have added to the pressure of a leadership rumblings in the party. Added to that, the pressure that Labor has held the state seat of Melbourne for more than half a century.
