Angus Taylor declared winner of Hume poll

Liberal Angus Taylor was officially announced the winner on Friday at the Hume poll's declaration. It was a quiet affair, with only Mr Taylor, his staffer and divisional electoral office staff in attendance.

Returning officer Melissa Merryfull delivered the final first preference count, with Mr Taylor snaring 54,589 votes, followed by Labor's Aoife Champion on 27,223; independent Huw Kingston with 6068 votes; The Greens' David Powell on 5224; United Australia Party candidate Lynda Abdo on 4939 votes; Fraser Anning National Conservative Party candidate Tanya Hargraves on 2493; and Christian Democrats Party contender Ian Nebauer on 1906 votes.

On a two-party preferred basis, Mr Taylor captured 64, 527 votes (62.99 per cent) while Ms Champion polled 37,915 votes (37.01). Mr Taylor increased his margin in the seat by 2.81pc, taking him to about 13pc.

Returning of Melissa Merryfull said 94pc of the 116,495 eligible voters lodged a vote, which she described as "quite reasonable."

A total 6973 people didn't vote but these included the elderly who were possibly unable to do so.

People who intentionally didn't exercise their right at the ballot box were liable for a $20 fine.

"It's a huge privilege to be elected for the third time," Mr Taylor said.

"It's a job that thankfully I enjoy but I also know the huge responsibility that comes with it."

He thanked the other candidates who stood, saying it was a "harrowing" thing to put oneself forward for election.

"Anyone who does it knows how tough it is," he said.

Mr Taylor told The Post that while his opponents fought hard, he always felt "the quiet Australians" were with the Coalition.

He said people wanted to see less politics on the front pages of newspapers and for their representatives to be getting on with the job.

Since his election, he's been reappointed to the Energy portfolio but with Emissions Reduction added to the role.

"It will be a relentless focus on delivering affordable, reliable energy while we meet our international emission reduction obligations," Mr Taylor said.

"It will be about very practical things that matter to Australian people. From July 1 they'll all see reduced standing offers from electricity providers. That's the default price you receive when you don't negotiate your own."

He noted Origin Energy's move last week to offer price reductions to long-standing customers.

Mr Taylor said the 0.7pc increase in Australia's emissions to 538.2 million tonnes from 2017 to 2018 reported last week by the Department of the Environment and Energy was "very modest."

The levels had risen over the past three years but Mr Taylor said if one excluded LNG exports, "emissions had been coming down every year since we got into government."

"The challenge is we have rapid growth in exports, particularly of LNG. They reduce global emissions but they add to ours, which is an odd thing but it's something we have to deal with," he said.

"It's a good thing that for the world that Australia's exports are clean relative to our competitors but we'll continue to work hard to make sure we reach out (emission reduction) obligations. We've laid out to the last tonne how we're going to do that and that plan is in place now."

The MP said the only alternative to LNG was coal, which would "double global emissions."

He reiterated earlier comments that the government would not sacrifice industrial jobs by "recklessly" reducing its emissions.

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