Farrer byelection as it happened: One Nation win in historic victory as Liberal Party lose regional NSW seat for first time in 77 years

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation will win the federal seat of Farrer.

Candidate David Farley is leading the two candidate-preferred count against independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe, about 60 per cent to 40 per cent.

Farley has been leading the count in the majority of regional booths across the south-west NSW seat.

Results are still pouring in from around the electorate, and polling coming in from the regional city of Albury is favouring Milthorpe, where she is leading in some booths.

However, Milthorpe’s results in Albury are either the same or weaker than they were at the last election, when she took on Liberal leader Sussan Ley. It means she won’t make enough inroads in Albury to out-poll Farley across the rest of the seat.

This will be the first time One Nation has won a seat in the House of Representatives.

Thank you for following our live coverage of the Farrer byelection, a historic poll in which the first One Nation MP was elected to the House of Representatives.

It was a big night for 69-year-old agribusinessman David Farley, who will soon make the four-hour drive from his home in Narrandera to take his seat in Canberra’s Parliament House.

It was a far tougher night for the Liberals and Nationals, who collectively garnered less of the primary vote than the second-place independent challenger Michelle Milthorpe, in a seat they have held for over 75 years.

You can read a full recap of the night’s events here, alongside analysis from our national correspondent Rob Harris, and chief political commentator James Massola.

Thanks again for joining us.

Good night.

Independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe has danced with volunteers to ABBA’s hit song Dancing Queen after tearfully conceding defeat in her second tilt for the seat of Farrer in just over a year.

Our photographer Janie Barrett caught this video and a few prize pictures of the joyful crowd dancing off what would be a bitter defeat to One Nation.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has stood by his party’s decision to preference One Nation over independent challenger Michelle Milthorpe, saying it is what Liberal supporters in Farrer would have wanted.

“Our second preferences went to the National Party ... and I think that’s important. And can I make a point about this? What you saw is the National Party and the Liberal Party working together extremely collaboratively across this campaign. And that was important,” Taylor told the ABC.

“We had to send a message that the Coalition is united and working together again, and whilst that hasn’t paid dividends here, we need to learn from what we’ve seen today.”

Taylor said he was “very confident” Coalition voters in the electorate would have wanted the parties to preference One Nation.

He would not say how the parties would distribute their preferences at the next general election.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has dodged a question on whether Sussan Ley should have stayed in the electorate to campaign, saying: “it was not the byelection we wanted”.

Moments ago Ley released a statement congratulating David Farley, her first intervention in the byelection. The former MP is currently on a Greyhound bus travelling across the United States.

“We’ve got to rebuild trust with the Australian people and show that we are a party of government that can win government and put this country back in the right direction. That’s, that’s our task as a major party,” Taylor told Sky News.

Taylor pushed back against claims that he was not present enough in the byelection campaign, saying: “I have national duties I’ve got to attend to as well.”

Taylor said Nationals leader Matt Canavan had “a bit more time” on his hands, and therefore was able to be more present in the electorate.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has mocked Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s concession speech, saying it sounded more like “a victory speech from the person who came fifth”.

“It’s ridiculous, they’re not even on the paddock … why did they have to have this epiphany after this absolutely incredible result, all of a sudden, they’ve just woken up now and gone: ‘Ah, I think we’ve got something wrong’,” Joyce said.

“What you saw tonight was not just a result, not just a result for Farrer. It’s a result for Australia. It’s a result for Australia. And what we see is the Australian people saying: ‘I’m over this. I’m going to change things around’,” Joyce told the ABC.

“Politics has changed. It’s changed tonight, and I’m sorry ... when we have the prospective leader of the Coalition talking about ... he’s got 11 per cent [of the vote], honest to goodness. I mean, what’s that? It’s like the marijuana party,” Joyce said, in reference to the Legalise Cannabis Party.