When Daniel Tehan was running late for yesterday's official electoral announcement to declare him the new member for Wannon one of his electoral opponents Swampy Marsh quipped "it's those bloody roads".
After his victory speech Mr Tehan was again reminded by the Warrnambool independent "the roads are out there for you to be fixed mate".
It was a lighthearted end to what had been a hard-fought election by a record field of nine candidates vying to win the seat.
Mr Tehan retained the seat for his party with 57.47 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis, ahead of Judith McNamara of the ALP who gained a 0.27 per swing with 42.8 per cent from the 87,916 votes lodged.
Mr Tehan officially moved into his electorate office yesterday and will travel to Canberra today to prepare for a party meeting tomorrow.
Despite spending 26 weeks of the year in the nation's capital for parliamentary sittings, he vowed that time in Canberra would not stop him working on local issues.
"I will be only a phone call away," he said.
In the neighbouring seat of Corangamite the Liberals' Sarah Henderson yesterday conceded defeat, with Labor's Darren Cheeseman ahead by 769 votes on a two-party basis.
Ms Henderson said she was encouraged by a 0.44 per cent swing to the Liberals and a primary vote of 44.98 per cent compared with Labor's 39.52 per cent.
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