Member for Parkes Mark Coulton was returned to parliament for his third term on Saturday with a resounding boost to his approval from electors.
Mr Coulton recorded a four per cent swing, an increased majority over the 2010 poll result.
The sitting member received 56,107 votes (71.78 per cent) on a two party preferred basis against Country Labor candidate Brendan Byron, 22,060 (22.22 per cent).
“With all the talk about the Greens being the voice of the bush, clearly the farming communities didn’t agree with them,” Mr Coulton said.
The Greens’ candidate Matt Parmeter received 3923 votes, a drop of 0.58 per cent on the 2010 election.
Mr Coulton said he looked forward to focussing on issues in Parkes as a member of the government.
He reaffirmed his commitment to seek more funding for agricultural research in his third term in federal parliament.
“The economic management of the country overarches everything else, but one of the areas I will be pursuing is money allocated to agricultural research in this electorate.
“I will be aiming to have money directed to our part of the world.
“There are exciting things happening at Narrabri’s I.A. Watson Grains Research Institute, and also at other research units like those at Trangie and Condoblin.
“We need to support the cutting edge research being undertaken in agriculture.
“We have been focussed on climate change for the past six years, not on productivity.
“And we will be looking at some meaningful work on programs for the Aboriginal community, and I will be focussing on the most disadvantaged in our electorate.”
Mr Coulton said a strong business community underpinned future prosperity.
“Governments can’t lead an economy into a strong position all it can do is provide the environment and give confidence to people and small and large business.
“And it will be our job to give that confidence.”
Mr Coulton acknowledged that he was concerned about the possible role of Clive Palmer as a Member of Parliament.
“It’s not about being larger than life, adding colour and entertainment to parliament,” he said.
“We want to be a workmanlike and responsible government,” adding he was looking forward to the next term.
“I have enjoyed the past six years representing Parkes in parliament but I will certainly enjoy representing the electorate as a member of the government,” he said.