Following a couple of nerve-racking weeks waiting for the federal seat of McEwen result, it’s back to the basics for returning Labor MP Rob Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell held off a challenge from the Liberals’ Donna Petrovich to win by 346 votes on a two-party preferred basis.
Mr Mitchell told the Weekly last week he was already back at work and looking to hold the Coalition accountable.
“It’s about making sure we get our fair share and that we aren’t going to miss out.”
He said he had already written to Prime Minister Tony Abbott seeking to ensure the promises made by Ms Petrovich, such as the installation of traffic lights at Hanson Road in Craigieburn, were kept.
“What we have to look at is making sure all the promises that were made get delivered because even today [Thursday] at Whittlesea, people were concerned that Petrovich had said that they [the promises] would only go ahead if she was elected.
“I spoke to Whittlesea council and said, ‘Give me a list of all the promises and we will put it straight in [to the federal government]’.”
Mr Mitchell said his priorities were increasing health services in the McEwen electorate and ensuring the proposed changes to universities, the school kids bonus and worker penalty rates didn’t affect residents.
Mr Mitchell said the election result was a wake-up call for Labor, which had been ‘‘talking about itself too much’’.
“I had a lot of people even on election day saying we want to vote for you but don’t want to vote Labor.”
He said the ‘Sunbury out of Hume’ issue had a big impact on voting in Sunbury, though it was not a federal issue. “Every promise I made [in my last term] has been delivered and I still think that is important.”
On the Labor leadership front, Mr Mitchell said he would support long-time friend Bill Shorten.
“Anthony Albanese [the other contender] can take the fight to Abbott, no worries, but what about the next step when you want to fight back into government,” he said. “Bill is a far better option then.”
As for his own aspirations in the party, Mr Mitchell would make no comment.
