Australian election news and updates recap: Adam Bandt loses Melbourne seat amid Greens wipeout

As counting continues, several key seats are still too close to call.

In Kooyong in Victoria, teal independent MP Monique Ryan leads Liberal Amelia Hamer by just 622 votes - 50.3 per cent to 49.7 per cent, with 80 per cent of the vote counted.

In Bradfield in NSW, Liberal incumbent Gisele Kapterian is in a tough stoush with independent Nicolette Boele, she leads by just 185 votes with 86.1 per cent of the vote counted.

In WA’s Bullwinkel, the country’s newest seat, there are just 50 votes separating Labor’s Trish Cook who is in a narrow lead over Liberal Matt Moran with 80 per cent of the vote counted.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has fallen behind Labor candidate Sarah Witty by 1921 votes in Melbourne, with 69.232 per cent of the vote counted.

Fremantle’s Labor incumbent Josh Wilson appears to be fending off teal independent Kate Hulett but there are only 2143 votes in it, with 80.9 per cent of the vote counted.

Labor MP David Smith is in jeopardy in his formally safe seat of Bean. He is ahead of independent Jessie Price by just 748, with 86 per cent of the vote counted.

In Bendigo in Victoria, just 808 vots separate Labor incumbent Lisa Chesters, (31,108) and Nationals candidate Andrew Lethlean (31,916), with just over 87 per cent counted.

The Greens are ahead of the Liberals by 5782 votes in Ryan, with incumbent Elizabeth Watson-Brown currently in front of Maggie Forrest, with 81.4 per cent of the votes counted.

Follow the count here:

NSW Police chief Karen Webb has confirmed she will quit the top job in September.

Ms Webb, who was the first female police commissioner in NSW, said she had decied to retire after discussions with her family.

The Commissioner said the role had been her greatest honour.

“I have recommended to the government that Deputy Commissioner Peter Thurtell act in my role,” Commissioner Webb said.

“I knew when the time was right I would know, and I wanted to give the State Government time to recruit and appoint a new Commissioner going into an election period in less than two years’ time,” she said.

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Zoe Daniel has refused to concede Godlstein, despite Liberal Tim Wilson claiming victory.

Ms Daniel prematurely celebrated winning the seat on Saturday night, hours after poll booths closed but a postal vote surge saw Mr Wilson over the line.

In a statement, Ms Daniel said she wanted to “respect the democratic process”.

“While the media has called the result in Goldstein I will wait for further counting out of respect for my scrutineers and the democratic process,” she said.

“This seems sensible given the margin is in the hundreds and there are about 12 thousand remaining votes to be counted.”

With 83.9 per cent of votes counted in the tight race, Mr Wilson has secured 50.5 per cent of the votes, while Ms Daniels has 49.5 per cent.

Paying tribute to his campaign team, Tim Wilson has had a pointed dig at his defeated opponent Zoe Daniel.

He said his campaign focused on the issues affecting the people of of Goldstein after spending the past three years listening and engaging.

“We did not have massive cheques written to us by entities based in Sydney who tried to treat the community like it was an acquisition trust fund.

“We built a very much from the bottom up and I think there are a lot of lessons for a recovering Liberal Party about how it wants to take on the future of the country and that is why we are so proud because we shared this victory together.”

Tim Wilson has spoken after claiming victory over teal independent Zoe Daniel in Goldstein.

It marks a return to Federal Parliament for Mr Wilson who lost his seat when Daniel secured it at the 2022 election.

Mr Wilson said three years ago the Liberal Party was “written off” in the area, but tenacity had helped win the seat back.

“The privilege of public service once is something that has been afforded to me by the people of Goldstein. To be given that privilege once again is something that is almost unbelievable and I do so very much with a sense of humility and respect for the electorate and of course for the great trust that they have given me.”

He continued: “I think we have seen that in the election results very clearly that people want that sense of hope, aspiration, belief about the future and that is what we appealed to and that is what we have done and delivered.”

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb is reportedly set to walk away from the top job.

After three turbulent years, it’s understood Commissioner Webb will step down on May 18, The Daily Telegraph reports.

NSW Police has been contacted for comment.

Following what has been described as a “humiliating loss” for the Coalition, former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has offered a new assessment on the 2025 Federal election result.

After conceding the election and his seat of Dickson, Mr Dutton has remained rather quiet, however, 2GB host Ben Fordham revealed new comments from the former MP on his Sydney program on Wednesday.

Fordham, who had a private conversation with Mr Dutton, revealed the former leader didn’t want to “buy in” on excuses. Instead, Mr Dutton told Fordham that “Albo deserved to win”.

The radio host paid tribute to Mr Dutton’s political legacy, saying: “When his record is considered, away from this election campaign, he’s got plenty to be proud of.”

Labor’s Cabinet and full ministry can be expected to reflect the high proportion of women returned to the caucus after the recent election, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has said.

“We were the first female majority government in Australia’s history in 2022 – 53 per cent of the caucus were women. And I expect that it will be higher than that when all of the seats are determined in our caucus from 2025,” she told ABC Radio National Breakfast.

“So that makes our job easier, making sure that it’s reflected through all positions in the party, because it’s not just the ministry, it will be a whole lot of other positions as well,” she said.

Senator Gallagher will be retaining her finance portfolio, which she held in the last term, as well as serving as Minister for Women and Public Service.

Future portfolio decisions lay in the hands of the Prime Minister, but he had been “very proud of the fact that he had a Minister for Women who was Minister for Finance, that we had a gender equal cabinet,” she said.

“The thing about gender equality in the Labor Party is everyone in the caucus is for gender equality, that conversation or that argument has been won. So it’s an easy discussion for us.”

National Party Senator Matt Canavan says the Coalition with the Liberal Party is a “business relationship, not a marriage”, as the fallout from the 2025 election loss continues.

Speaking to Sky News, Senator Canavan said he wasn’t seeking a Coalition break-up, however, wanted “all options” on the table to allow the Nationals to “fight” for Australians.

“We’ve always found a way to work with our Liberal colleagues in that time,” he said.

“But I would argue that when we’ve been at our most successful is when the National Party has instigated debate on many of these issues.

“It was the National Party that first stood against Kevin Rudd’s carbon tax. Six months later, he was no longer the Prime Minister.

“It was the Nationals Party that saved the Adani mines by a bunch of bedwetting Liberals that wanted to kill it. And that saved the 2019 election of the Morrison government.

“And so we should never be shy in the National Party of putting forward our view.

“I worry that we have been gun-shy in this last term of parliament in a futile attempt to give the Liberals space or some sort of opportunity to win seats in the city.”

Labor Senator Murray Watt has shared his thoughts on Teal Zoe Daniel’s premature victory claim after she sensationally lost her seat on Tuesday.

“Politics is all about timing, isn’t it. You can get these judgment calls wrong,” he told Sunrise.

“We all have people crunching the numbers throughout the night, and in the days following, to try to work out where preferences are going to go and things like that. And in these really close seats, it can be really hard to work out what is going to happen.

“I obviously feel for her. It’s not a great experience.”