Griffith by-election: Bill Glasson refuses to concede defeat in Griffith to Labor candidate Terri Butler

Updated

Bill Glasson is refusing to concede defeat in Kevin Rudd's old seat of Griffith, despite admitting he is at "very long odds" to win the seat for the Liberal National Party.

Voters in Griffith - an electorate covering inner-city suburbs on Brisbane's southside - yesterday went to the polls for the second time in five months.

Terri Butler has retained the seat for Labor, leading 52.3 to 47.7 per cent after preferences, despite a swing towards Dr Glasson.

"I think it's pretty clear Labor has won the election," ABC election analyst Antony Green said as he called the result last night.

Follow the latest results on the ABC's election site.

About 10,000 absentee and postal votes will be counted tomorrow, and Dr Glasson says he will wait for those results before conceding defeat.

"I'm very long odds. I was in barrier 11 in the race yesterday, I'm probably barrier 23 as I stand here today," he told reporters in Brisbane this morning.

"I think I will have to be a masterful horse on a very heavy track to win this race.

"But having said that, it has been a great race. I've enjoyed the journey, and as I said last night, it's the people I've met, the volunteers through our community who do great things every day that's inspired me and inspired me to stand for the by-election."

I think I will have to be a masterful horse on a very heavy track to win this race. But having said that, it has been a great race. Bill Glasson

Dr Glasson ate into Mr Rudd's margin at the general election in September and needed another 3 per cent swing to claim the seat against Ms Butler.

After counting resumed today, the AEC was reporting a two-party preferred swing of 0.7 per cent to the LNP.

Dr Glasson says even if he loses the seat, he can claim some success.

"It's now a very marginal seat. Since 2010, we've taken over 10 per cent off Labor in Griffith," he said.

"So what was a traditionally strong Labor seat has now become an extremely marginal Labor seat.

"So if we can get a good candidate to stand here next time, I think there's an opportunity for this to finally become a conservative seat."

Dr Glasson would not be drawn on whether he would stand in the next federal election, saying: "That's in three years' time. There's a lot of water under the bridge."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Dr Glasson has achieved a fine result, saying a swing towards the government is something that has not happened at a by-election since 1996.

Mr Abbott says the result is a clear rejection of the negative scare campaign run by Labor against someone who had "campaigned tirelessly for the electorate".

Labor says Butler's win sends message to Abbott

Ms Butler says the outcome of the by-election should send a message to Mr Abbott.

"It's a result that says that notwithstanding Tony Abbott's star candidate, people have had enough of the secrecy and people are deeply concerned about the LNP's cuts," she told reporters this afternoon.

"People are not happy with Mr Abbott. The Abbott Government is not the government that people were expecting when they voted in September.

"It is a Government that lacks transparency, it is a Government that has been introducing the commission of audit, which we know is going to mean cuts."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten earlier described Dr Glasson as "a very strong candidate" hindered by electoral dissatisfaction with Mr Abbott.

"I think he would be reasonably disappointed with the outcome," Mr Shorten said this morning.

"They didn't put Tony Abbott on Bill Glasson's how-to-vote card.

"They tried to turn it into a local council election, but I think voters are unimpressed by the Abbott Government and weren't inclined to put another Abbott Government MP as their representative."

Meanwhile Ms Butler, a former industrial lawyer, paid tribute to Mr Rudd, thanking him for the support he had given her.

"I'm clearly a different type of person to Kevin Rudd. I'm also someone that I think is someone who can be a fresh voice for the future," she said.

Topics: government-and-politics, elections, parliament, states-and-territories, brisbane-4000, qld, australia

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