UPDATE Monday, December 17 6pm
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Australian Labor Party will lodge an appeal with the Court of Disputed Returns for the seat of Ripon.
ALP deputy campaign manager Kosmos Samaras confirmed on Monday night the party would be asking for a recount of Ripon.
“We just think the VEC has not undertaken a full recount,” Mr Samaras said.
“The VEC applied what we see a full recount process to minor party primary votes and distribution of preferences but not to the primary votes of the two major party candidates.
“We are looking for a full recount.”
Labor candidate Sarah De Santis lost the seat by 15 votes to Liberal Party’s Louise Staley.
A date of when the matter will be heard by the court is unknown at this stage.
More to come.
UPDATE Monday, December 17
The Australian Labor Party is still considering lodging a petition to contest the decision in Ripon.
ALP deputy campaign manager Kosmos Samaras said the party is still strongly considering the move and is likely to make a decision later this week.
Earlier Monday, December 10
The Australian Labor Party is not taking the declaration of Liberal Party’s Louise Staley lying down.
Before Ms Staley was officially declared as the successful candidate of the marginal seat of Ripon, the ALP submitted a call for a formal recount of all votes.
“On Monday morning we lodged for a formal recount of all votes, we were of the opinion a formal recount had not been performed,” assistant state secretary and ALP deputy campaign manager Kosmos Samaras said.
“Although some scrutiny had been applied we believe full scrutiny of the whole count has not been performed.”
Mr Samaras said the ALP is “confident” votes for minor parties had been appropriately scrutineered but had doubts over votes for Ms Staley and ALP candidate Sarah De Santis.
“We were looking for a formal recount from start to finish,” he said.
Ms Staley called for a recount last week after Ms De Santis held a 31-vote lead following preference distributions.
The recount resulted in Ms Staley finishing ahead by 15 votes.
A VEC spokesperson confirmed a second recount is not possible, especially since a successful candidate has already been declared.
“The only avenue from here on is to challenge the decision with the Court of Disputed Returns,” the spokesperson said.
"Once it's declared, anyone who wants to challenge that can request that the result be challenged.”
A petition would have to be filed within 40 days, so the latest date for lodgement with the Supreme Court for the 2018 election would be January 24, 2019.
Mr Samaras said the ALP will consider taking the matter to court.
“We will consider taking up the matter with the Court of Disputed Returns, we believe there are discrepancies that must be addressed,” he said.
The candidates exchanged the lead several times throughout the counting process, even after preference distributions at various points in time.