Sophie Mirabella quits her frontbench role as she continues to trail Cathy McGowan in the seat of Indi

Updated

Federal Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella has ruled herself out of the race for a frontbench role as uncertainty continues over her parliamentary future.

Mrs Mirabella is locked in a close contest with independent candidate Cathy McGowan for the Victorian seat of Indi.

The latest figures from the Electoral Commission (AEC) show Ms McGowan remains ahead after preferences, although it is likely to be several days until a final result is known.

Mrs Mirabella says given the circumstances, she has spoken with Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott about her position on the Coalition frontbench.

"It is now time that our new Prime Minister has absolute freedom to select his new front bench," she said in a statement.

"As my own future in the Parliament is not assured, I have asked that I not be considered for selection.

"Around Tony are men and women of great substance who will ably conduct themselves as members of his Cabinet."

Mrs Mirabella has been the Coalition's spokeswoman on innovation, industry and science for nearly four years.

Mr Abbott has thanked Mrs Mirabella for her "tireless efforts" in bringing the Coalition to government.

"I pay tribute to Sophie Mirabella and thank her for her magnanimity in ensuring the continuing vote count in Indi does not hinder formation of the new ministry," he said in a statement.

"I have valued Sophie's friendship for over a quarter of a century. She has been a trusted colleague and a senior member of my shadow cabinet.

Her relentless pursuit of the Gillard/Rudd governments' carbon tax broken promise and her support for our manufacturing industries was an important factor in the Coalition's election victory last Saturday. Tony Abbott

"Her relentless pursuit of the Gillard/Rudd governments' carbon tax broken promise and her support for our manufacturing industries was an important factor in the Coalition's election victory last Saturday."

Already, Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen has put his hand up for the job, arguing that his background as a scientist would make him well qualified for the position.

Mr Abbott has previously indicated his frontbench team would remain relatively unchanged, although he will need to reduce the number of positions to meet legislated limits.

With Mrs Mirabella's departure from the frontbench, foreign minister-elect Julie Bishop will be the only woman in Cabinet unless there is a broader reshuffle.

'Outbreak of hope' in McGowan camp

Earlier, Ms McGowan admitted to an "outbreak of hope" among her supporters as vote counting continues.

Mrs Mirabella had held the seat by a margin of 9 per cent, however Ms McGowan has extended her lead on a two-candidate preferred basis, helped by the AEC's admission yesterday that it had found 1,000 misplaced votes in Ms McGowan's favour.

AEC spokesman Steve Kennedy says the votes were counted on election night but a transcription error meant they were not being included in Ms McGowan's total.

At 12.40pm today, the AEC's website was showing Ms McGowan 1,450 votes ahead.

While Ms McGowan says although she will not claim victory yet, "the level of optimism has certainly increased in the camp".

"There's still quite a few postal votes and absentee votes to come in. This whole campaign it's been very close. I don't think we are prepared yet to say we're there," she told ABC News 24.

"We will know when the [the votes] are there and... until such time we'll just keep our fingers crossed and keep saying all those prayers that everyone has been saying on our behalf."

Ms McGowan says the AEC's discovery of misplaced votes added to the sense of optimism among those who had felt "disillusioned" under Mrs Mirabella's management of the electorate and voted for a change.

"I imagine that if you find 1,000 votes here, maybe there's 500 somewhere else," she said.

"We are just being hopeful about it and imagining that there will be a recount after this first period is over."

Mrs Mirabella has declined to comment on the discovery of the extra votes, but praised those involved in the count nonetheless.

"The AEC and the scrutineers are doing the counting, so I'll leave it up to them. They're doing a good job," she said.

AEC staff will now count pre-poll, postal and absentee votes, which usually favour the incumbent.

Indi voters feel 'taken for granted'

Ms McGowan says her success in challenging what had been considered a safe Liberal seat suggests that many in Indi feel a lack of representation at a federal level.

"We knew people had felt they were being taken for granted," she said.

"The people here wanted a member that was going to say, 'we want to grow and have jobs, but we need to do it in a way that's sustainable'. I actually think that's been the key to my success.

"You take a seat for granted, you stop listening and you stop giving us policies that work for rural and regional Australia and people are going to say, 'it doesn't work for us'."

Ms McGowan says the swing in Indi is also an indication of wider disillusionment among rural Australians.

She says she would have joined the National Party if "they were doing what I think needed to be done for rural and regional Australia".

"Where's the National Party plan for growing jobs in rural and regional Australia?" she said.

"Where's their plan for education, for health services, the plan for infrastructure, the plan for infrastructure, the plan for broadband? I don't see it there."





Topics: federal-election, federal-government, federal-parliament, electoral-system, liberals, liberal-national-party, vic, australia

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