Former member for Herbert Ewen Jones has conceded defeat, but says he will back any legal action put forward after he lost his Queensland seat to Labor by 37 votes.
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Once a Speaker is chosen, Turnbull will theoretically have 75 MPs in the lower house and a governing majority of one, the slenderest governing majority since Julia Gillard’s government in 2010.
North Queensland LNP member George Christensen has already threatened to cross the floor if the government does not alter its proposed superannuation legislation.
“Shortly after lunch we completed that work with the ALP ahead by 37 votes, so that’s the final margin”, he said.
The one-seat majority would mean the Coalition would need to maintain absolute discipline in Parliament and would place further pressure on Mr Turnbull.
Ewan Jones (L) with Malcolm Turnbull during a tour of Laverton Barracks.
Outgoing MP Ewen Jones conceded on Monday but said he would agree if the party chose to challenge the result. “I have been in touch with Cathy to congratulate her on her win”.
The LNP would have to bring a challenge to the result within 40 days.
“The LNP is examining a number of issues reported to the party to determine if all Herbert electors were given the opportunity to vote”, a party spokesman said.
“Ewen has assured me they will be out of the office as soon as they possibly can”, she said.
When the writs are returned following the formal declaration of the result by the AEC this week, there is a 40-day window in which a candidate or party can formally request a challenge.
But that could change, with the possibility of the Liberals seeking a Court of Disputed Returns ruling to void the election result and run a fresh election.
There have been suggestions that some soldiers missed out on voting because they were away on exercises, and that there was a problem with hospital patients not having the opportunity to cast a vote.
“I think people in Townsville will be legitimately frustrated if through red-tape bungling there has to be a re-election”, Mr Shorten told Sky News.
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Herbert is the last House of Representatives seat to be finalised. But the Senate election in Western Australia state in 2013 had to be repeated after 1,370 ballot papers were mislaid.
