The weekend saw Labor comfortably retain all seven of its existing Hunter seats, in line with a state-wide swing in the party's direction.
It comes after the Liberals failed to name a host of candidates until the last minute, adding to what's being described as a lacklustre campaign performance across the Hunter and the state.
One of the Labor's biggest results could be seen in Port Stephens, where Kate Washington enjoyed a two-party preferred swing of 16.5%.
There's now pressure on the incoming MPs and state government to get moving on a number of promised and pressing commitments.
Namely, the proposed privatisaiton of Hunter Water has been a regionally-contentious issue for some time.
In the lead-up to the election, Chris Minns and Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp, said the first thing they would do is ensure Hunter Water stays in the public hands.
"We'll get moving very quickly on stopping privatisation of Hunter Water in particular; we hope to legislate that way in fact," Mr Crakanthorp said.
Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery, who easily retained her long-held seat, agrees it's the first thing on the agenda, but said the corporation needs to do better in working alongside the new state government.
"They've kept the people at arms length deliberately and played politics over the last 12 years, and they need to start getting in-touch with the wants and needs of people in Wallsend," she said.
Ms Hornery says the key issue in many Hunter electorates moving forward, will be the region's housing affordability crisis.
Vote-counting for the election continues today.
 |
| Tim Crakanthorp pledges to never privatise Hunter Water in a social media post. |
