MURRAY member-elect Adrian Piccoli won’t be drawn on the upcoming Baird Government cabinet announcement, although he believes the electorate can be better served by a cabinet minister.
Re-elected New South Wales Premier Mike Baird is expected to announce his new cabinet ministry before Easter.
Holding the high-profile education portfolio in the government’s former term, Mr Piccoli said he would be keen to remain in cabinet if asked, but would not add to reports of a reshuffle.
“Of course I would like to remain in cabinet, but those are the decisions being made over this week,” he said.
“I think that the electorate is well served by [a senior minister], the more senior position the better. Particularly in cabinet that is where a lot of the key decisions are made.”
Mr Piccoli received more than 55 percent of the first preference vote – equating to more than 20,000 constituents – with independent and new-comer Helen Dalton obtaining 18 percent of votes.
Meanwhile, Country Labor’s Max Buljubasic was in third place on 16.25 percent.
After the distribution of preferences, a swing of about six percent against the Nationals is expected.
“The last election in 2011 was a record high vote for the Coalition… off the back of corruption allegations and 16 years of Labor,” Mr Piccoli said.
“There was an expectation that the split of votes would come back to something a bit more normal.
“I think the swing against the Coalition state wide was about eight percent, and the swing against Murray was about six percent, so it was below average.”
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