Politics is never short of ironies. The Liberal Party's Timothy Vo is likely to suffer one of the biggest ever defeats by an opposition candidate in the history of the Ballarat electorate (Catherine King's portion of the two-party preference votes stood at almost 62 per cent at the time of writing). Yet the mood was far from sombre at the Canberra Hotel on Creswick Road where the Liberal post-election party was held.
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As the night went on and deflated Labor supporters were starting to drift out of Trades Hall, cheers began to punctuate the hubbub in the hotel function room in Ballarat North. Chants of "three more years, three more years" began to ring out.
"The red tidal wave hasn't appeared," Andrew Kilmartin, the former Liberal Party candidate for Buninyong in the state elections last year, told The Courier.
Standing up to speak to Liberal members, he said "Thank you Queensland," before paying tribute to Mr Vo. "He was thrown in at the deep end," he said. "And he has done everything that has been asked of him."
Talk that the Liberal Party was not taking Ballarat seriously is completely false. We are taking it seriously, we will always take it seriously because the people of Ballarat deserve to have a voice.
- Timothy Vo, the defeated Liberal Party candidate for Ballarat
Yet as Labor's hopes for forming government crumbled, so too did Ballarat hopes for more than $36.5m worth of pledges made by the Labor Party. Funding promised by Bill Shorten included millions of dollars spread across the Bacchus Marsh Sports Hub, BIRCH research centre, Ballarat Airport runway extension and the Daylesford-Hanging Rock Rail Train.
These were unmatched by a Liberal Party, who concentrated its promises in more marginal seats, such as the extraordinary - and ultimately unsuccessful - bid to win Corangamite.
Mr Kilmartin said the party would continue to fight for funding for projects supported by the community, such as the final tranche needed to finish the works at Her Majesty's Theatre.
Local Liberals were also candid about the challenges for the party within Ballarat. The federal result may have lightened the mood at the Canberra Hotel, but it is unlikely to stop some serious soul-searching on how the local branch moves on from here.
Without showing evidence that Ms King's increasing margin can be challenged, crucial party resources and funding are unlikely to materialise to back candidates in the future.
An ageing and dwindling membership also means the party has a lot of work to do to re-energise its rank and file, as is the case in many parts of Victoria.
But Timothy Vo, was upbeat in his thank you speech to the Liberal Party faithful. "The Liberal Party in Ballarat is evidently still active.
"Talk that the Liberal Party was not taking Ballarat seriously is completely false.
"We are taking it seriously, we will always take it seriously because the people of Ballarat deserve to have a voice."
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