Greens Candidate Concedes Defeat After Strong Challenge for Labor’s Seat of Wills

Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam acknowledged her defeat but said she would continue to fight for the renters, immigrants, Palestinians, and climate change.

Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam and previous leader of its Victorian division speaks to the media in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 26, 2021. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Former Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam has conceded the northern Melbourne seat of Wills after a close contest against Labor’s Peter Khalil.

At around 3 pm on May 8, Ratnam posted a video on her Instagram to concede defeat.

“I’ve just called [Labor candidate] Peter Khalil and congratulated him on winning the seat of Wills,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get over the line this time, but we got very, very close.”

With 81 percent of votes counted, Khalil is leading Ratnam by more than 4,000 votes.

Despite having a two-party preferred swing of 2.4 percent against Khalil in this race, Ratnam is unlikely to bridge the gap with the remaining uncounted votes.

In the video, Ratnam expressed her gratitude to all the supporters and volunteers who had assisted her in achieving a “historic result.”

“I want to thank every single one of our campaign team who’ve been absolute superstars, giving their heart and soul into this historic campaign, and every single volunteer for door knocking, for calling, for being at stalls week after week for donations to fund our campaign,” she said.

The former leader of the Greens’ Victorian branch also told her supporters to “hold on to hope,” saying there are still many things that need to be fought for.

“We don’t have the luxury of giving up,” she said.

“For every single person seeking asylum in Australia … for every person struggling to keep food on the table … for every single Palestinian right now in Gaza, staring down the ethnic cleansing of their homelands, we can’t give up,” she said.

Regarding her future, Ratnam said she would spend some time with her daughter and later get back into the community sector as a social worker.

“I look forward to being on the front lines of stopping the demolition and privatisation of public housing here in Victoria,” she said.

“And I'll be the front lines of stopping new coal and gas projects in the midst of a climate crisis.”

Ratnam’s concession comes just hours after Greens Leader Adam Bandt conceded defeat to Labor candidate Sarah Witty in the seat of Melbourne.

Bandt blamed his loss on the “people’s hatred” for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his perceived link with U.S. President Trump, which he said had caused voters to switch to Labor.

Bandt also became the second party leader to ever lose their seat in a federal election after Dutton.

With the loss of other seats, the Greens are projected to win only one seat (Ryan) this year, down from four in the previous election.