NDT Profile - New State MP for Ryde

The front page of the Northern District Times for Wednesday October 22 2008 screams out: "Dominator". Below is a photo of Victor Dominello, new state MP for Ryde, sitting on some steps holding a bottle of still water. He is suited for work, his bright red socks almost matching the red-tiled stairs and taking focus away from the pink tie.

"Labor annihilated as Ryde swings 23.4% to Liberals" is the NDT headline. Charis Chang opens with this paragraph:

Victor Dominello went back to West Ryde station this week to thank voters for his stunning victory in Saturday's Ryde by-election.

Some brief facts from the article:

[01] Dominello is 41 years old.

[02] He turned a 10.9% deficit to ALP into a 12.6 % margin for the Libs. The swing was 23.4%.

[03] The ALP failed to win a single booth.

[04] Nicole Campbell, the ALP candidate, is a sitting Ryde councillor.

[05] By the following Tuesday, Dominello had won 53.8% of the vote. Compare this with March 2007 state election when Vic Tagg won just under 12,000 votes compared to John Watkins' ~18.700 votes.

[06] Greens didn't preference anyone, increased their vote more than four-fold.

[07] Dominello's links to area go back to 1930's when his grandfather set up market gardens in the region. His father owned a fruit and vegetable shop in Eastwood.

[08] Dominello couldn't vote in by-election as he wasn't enrolled in seat.

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf