Not because the love was there but because the LNP, by almost all accounts, had run a terrible campaign.
And then there was the undeniable Trump factor.
Australians, in a carbon copy of the recent Canadian election, made their feelings about Trumpian politics clear, re-electing a left-wing government and showing their opposition leaders the door.
Even so, no-one predicted the sweeping, Australia-wide landslide to Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party.
Farrer MP Sussan Ley has held the seat for 21 years, but acknowledged this election was a tough fight after an 8.66 per cent swing against her in the primary vote.
On Saturday night she said she was humbled to have retained the seat and thanked everyone who had turned out to help.
“It was an election where, across the country, the vote for the Liberal Party declined and I've lost good colleagues as a result from the Federal Parliament,” Ms Ley said.
“My seat was not immune to that decline in support."
On Monday, Ms Ley was not making any further comment and as the most senior member of the Liberal Party left standing, gave no indication whether she would contest the top job.
The swing in Farrer also went against the ALP to the tune of 3.99 per cent as Independent Michelle Milthorpe picked up more than 20 per cent of first preference votes.
It wasn’t enough to topple the deputy opposition leader, but Mrs Milthorpe’s message resonated with voters as she campaigned on grass roots issues and supported rural interests.
No doubt, conservative politics is on the nose, unless of course you live in Nicholls where there was no Independent candidate and hell was going to freeze over before the seat went to Labor.
In a seat where Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, and even Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots, fared somewhat better than elsewhere, incumbent Nationals MP Sam Birrell got over the line with 48 per cent per cent of the primary vote, and without a single pledge to the Yarrawonga area.
Mr Birrell attributed the Labor swing and increases to the right-wing minor parties to the absence of an independent candidate in the electorate.
“It's a great honour to be re-elected as the Federal Member for Nicholls,” he said.
“It's a very humble feeling to have had close to 50 percent of constituents give me their number one vote, but I commit to being the representative for everyone in our electorate, not just the ones who voted for me.”
Independent Helen Haines comfortably held onto Indi with a 2.36 per cent swing her way in the primary vote, in a seat where Labor only managed eight per cent.
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