It was a victory that surprised no one.
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On Saturday night, Nationals candidate for the Northern Tablelands by-election Brendan Moylan received more than 17,300 first-preference votes, creating a statistically insurmountable lead before even half the votes were counted.
What's more, the preference count done on Saturday night suggests Mr Moylan could have more than 85 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.
We'll have to wait until July 9 to get the full count, but for context, outgoing member Adam Marshall won 83.8 per cent of the two-party preferred vote in 2023, which made Northern Tablelands the safest seat in the NSW parliament and the seventh-safest seat for any Australian state parliament.
Here's what the Member Elect had to say the day after the election.
Q: Starting generally, how are you feeling today?
"The prevailing feeling is one of relief. A lot of work went into the last seven weeks and so it's an overwhelming sense of relief with the results," Mr Moylan said.
"It's very humbling to hold the seat. It's a big responsibility."
Q: Speaking of humbling, you had some big names in the party come out to support you on the campaign, like NSW Nationals deputy leader Bronnie Taylor. What was it like getting that support, especially considering how safe the seat is?
"I think it's reflective of the fact we weren't taking things for granted. All through the campaign people have been telling me it's a safe seat, but it's a safe seat because of Adam's hard work. Adam worked very hard to get that margin, but it was Adam Marshall's margin, not Brendan Moylan's margin," Mr Moylan said.
"I spent seven weeks on the campaign trail. I only spent six nights at home with the family. I was averaging 2000 kilometres a week. I had to convince the electorate I'd be as hard-working as Adam."
Q: On Adam Marshall, one thing he was known for was getting a usually city-focused government to spend money in the Northern Tablelands. How will you continue that work?
"Well obviously from opposition it's more difficult, but I think the reality is if you can reach across that political divide and talk to ministers about issues that are important to our region, hopefully we'll see some funding," Mr Moylan said.
"The state budget released last week has a little bit for Northern Tablelands, but it's not as much as we would've hoped for so it's my job to convince the government not to forget about us."
Q: And how are you hoping to do that? Do you have a plan of attack?
"Well I think from opposition there's two ways you can do it. You can sit on the opposition bench and throw rocks and sling mud, but in my experience that doesn't achieve anything," Mr Moylan said.
"The other option is to actually sit down and work proactively with the government, make a case for the issues we want addressed, and work with them to achieve a result.
"The job of a local member, in my opinion, is to look after the people of the electorate to ensure they receive the services we're entitled to, and the services people in the city take for granted."
How did the other candidates take their loss?
Mr Moylan isn't the only one refusing to take Northern Tablelands' status as a safe seat for granted.
Second-place candidate Ben Smith from the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers party says the 12 per cent of first-preference votes he's got so far is a sign voters are getting fed up with the major parties.
"I'm very positive. We set out with a goal of 10 per cent so 12's definitely a bonus, and I'd chalk that up to all the hard work that went into the campaign we ran. We clocked up over 4000 kilometres in under two weeks," Mr Smith said.
"It's a very good result from the party and very positive for our momentum."
Greens party candidate Dr Dorothy Robinson is in third place as of election night. It's the best result for a Greens candidate to date, though she said part of her success probably came from Labor choosing not to run.
"The main reason we did the election is because we want people to understand that the Northern Tablelands needs a fair go," Dr Robinson said.
"It needs better health, community, and education services, affordable housing, convenient public transport, local decision-making, and low-cost renewable energy."
The Armidale councillor says it's worth running even in safe seats as elections are the best time to get the public to examine and re-examine their political beliefs.
"We will have some other elections coming in the future, especially the next federal election, and people will start wondering about the economic credibility of the Liberal-National party in the face of their support for nuclear power and the economic analysis by CSIRO that nuclear will be much, much more expensive."
What about the independents?
Independent candidates Duncan Fischer and Natasha Ledger also benefited from a reduced field of candidates, winning 5.7 and 4.26 per cent of the vote counted on election night respectively.
But both candidates told the Leader the deck is stacked against independents, safe seat or no.
"[As Independents], we just don't have the money," Mr Fischer said.
"They [the Nationals] were flying in big names and elected members from all over the state. How does an independent person ever compete against that? I've got a 15-year-old son at home, he plays online games, and in the gaming world that's called Pay to Win."
Ms Ledger says there are many ways the electoral system could be improved, from longer election cycles to media reform.
"I feel it's a shame that the information on different policies available aren't presented in our media or in our information highway until just before election time. That's a letdown for our communities," she said.