2016 federal election: WA seat of O’Connor | live coverage

We'll be bringing you all the latest news, photos and videos as we head towards the result. 

Refresh the page to see all the latest updates and if you've got an update or photo to submit to the live coverage then you can do so by sending it to andrew.elstermann@fairfaxmedia.com.au.

9.30pm: We have a winner ladies and gentlemen. Congratulations to Liberal Party member Rick Wilson on holding the seat on O’Connor.

8pm: Nationally, it seems more and more likely that we are looking at a hung parliament. Find out what that could mean here.

6pm: Time’s up ladies and gentlemen. Polling places are now closed and the voting is set to start any minute now. Will your preferred candidate claim the seat of O’Connor? Stay tuned…

5pm: There is just one hour left to have your voice heard in the 2016 federal election.

If you haven't voted yet, you'd better hurry up! 

4.15pm: We’ve had confirmation that the polling place in Northcliffe was slow to start this morning. A spokesperson for the Australian Electoral Commission said some staff at the polling place were late withdrawals and replacements had to be found at the last minute. 

Despite earlier rumours, we have confirmation Nannup was not affected. 

One Northcliffe local told us while the long queues were a bit of a nuisance, at least everyone got the chance to enjoy the showcase at the town hall and the primary school sold extra raffle tickets while people waited.

4pm: Polls have now closed in the Eastern states and there are just two hours left to get your votes down on paper in Western Australia.

3pm: Opposition leader Bill Shorten confused many voters today with his sausage sizzle-eating technique. How were the snags at your polling place?

Admittedly, we’ve never seen anyone attack the bun from the middle but hey, maybe it will catch on…

2.15pm: BREAKING: Fairfax Media have heard multiple reports that some of the South West polling places including Northcliffe and Nannup had not received ballot papers by 8am Saturday morning, forcing them to open later in the morning after a delivery was made. 

Were you affected? Email andrew.elstermann@fairfaxmedia.com.au

2pm: The two polling places in Manjimup are certainly pulling in a big early-afternoon crowd. Have you had your say yet? If not there are just four hours to go. 

1pm: The candidates are using social media to show themselves out and about. 

Liberal candidate Rick Wilson has been busy this morning hitting polling booths in Denmark to chat about his policies with constituents. 

Nationals candidate John Hassell posted a photo of himself enjoying a pie in Albany while door-knocking on Friday.

While Labor’s Jon Ford paid a last minute visit to Collie and the state member Mick Murray.

12pm: Points to anybody that can send us a photo of a better election day outfit that Phil Freeman in Bridgetown. 

10am: Plenty of people have braved the cool of early morning to have their vote heard. How are things looking where you are?

8am: The polls in Western Australia are now open. You have until 6pm to cast your vote in the 2016 federal election to decide who will represent O’Connor in Canberra for the next three years.

There are six candidates contesting the 2016 federal election in O’Connor. They will appear on the ballot paper in this order; 

Read more about each candidate here.

Before you head into the poling place on Saturday, it is important to understand how to make your vote count. 

This one minute video explains how to successfully vote for your preferred candidates in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

There are 92 polling places inside the electorate of O’Connor. Click here for the full list.

Eleven candidates contested the Federal seat of O’Connor in 2013 with the Liberal Party holding a 1.0 per cent margin over the Nationals. 

Before preferences, Rick Wilson received 39.1 per cent of the vote while National’s candidate Chub Witham received 25.4 per cent, Labor candidate Michael Salt received 17.3 per cent and Greens candidate Diane Evers received 6.8 per cent. 

Seven minor party candidates received 11.4 per cent of the vote while 5,206 informal votes accounted for the final 6.3 per cent of the votes cast.

After preferences, the Liberal Party claimed a narrow two-candidate-preferred result. Rick Wilson claimed 42,040 votes (51.0 per cent) while Nationals candidate Chub Witham claimed 40,470 votes (49.0 per cent). The result was a 4.5 per cent swing in favour of the Liberals.

The federal seat of O’Connor covers 868,576 square kilometre and includes the city of Albany and Kalgoorlie-Boulder along with the Shires of Boyup Brook, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Brookton, Collie, Coolgardie, Corrigin, Denmark, Dundas, Esperance, Kondinin, Laverton, Manjimup, Ngaanyatjarraku, Wandering and Williams. 

The seat is named after Charles O’Connor (1843 – 1902) who was engineer in chief of Western Australia. Mr O’Connor designed Fremantle Harbour and the pipeline that supplies Kalgoorlie and other goldfields towns with water.

In 2016, O’Connor lost Bruce Rock, Narembeen, Quairading, Westonia and Yilgarn council areas to Durack and gained Collie from Forrest.

The seat named O’Connor has existed since 1980 and has undergone a number of significant boundary changes since the 2010 election. When the neighbouring seat of Kalgoorlie was abolished, the northern parts of Kalgoorlie and O’Connor were put into the new seat of Durack. 

In 1980, Liberal Party candidate Wilson Tuckey won O’Connor. He served on the Liberal frontbench from 1984 to 1989, 1993 to 1996 and between 1998 to 2003. 

In 2010, Tuckey was defeated in a close race by the Nationals candidate Tony Crook, who benefited from Labor and Green preferences. 

After one term, Crook retired in 2013 and Liberal MP Rick Wilson was elected with a very narrow margin of one per cent.

For more about the history of the O’Connor electorate visit tallyroom.com.au

Fewer than one in five voters think Bill Shorten will win the election, yet around half intend to give his party either their first or second preference, according to the final Fairfax-Ipsos poll on the eve of the election.

The contradiction points to a looming dead heat that has lifted the potential for Saturday's election to deliver either a shock Labor win, a narrow Coalition victory, or a hung Parliament with no side commanding a majority in the House of Representatives.

A massive 27 per cent of voters remain intent on supporting Greens and other crossbench parties and independents, as support for the major parties threatens to erode further.

The final Fairfax-Ipsos poll of the 2016 election shows that with most Australians preparing to cast their votes Labor and the Coalition are locked in a 50-50 embrace based on second and subsequent preference flows recorded in the 2013 poll when Labor's electoral support had tumbled.

Read the full story here.

Voting arrangements

Enrolment

Parties

Candidates

Election resources

Penalties for not voting

Read more here.

Back on May 8, 2016, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fired the starting gun on a 55-day election campaign, placing jobs, growth and economic management at the heart of his re-election pitch and warning a switch to Labor would "stop our nation's transition to the new economy dead in its tracks".

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has fired back by promising to protect schools, hospitals, workers' pay and conditions and to act on climate change - in pointed contrast to Mr Turnbull, who did not mention global warming in his election pitch - while stressing Labor's unity of purpose and commitment to fairness.

The Coalition currently holds 90 seats and Labor 55 seats in the lower house, but following the redrawing of electoral boundaries in NSW and Western Australia, the Coalition holds a notional 89 seats and Labor 57 seats - with 76 seats representing the minimum number required to win government.

Read more here.