While other Labor candidates may have struggled to maintain the same amount of support they received in the 2007 election Mr Fitzgibbon was again well ahead of his competition.

At the time of publication yesterday the returning Member for Hunter had just under 40,000 votes and 54.91 per cent.

His nearest rival and Nationals candidate Michael Johnsen did bridge the gap significantly with a swing of 3.01 percent to Mr Johnsen on a two party preferred basis.

Mr Fitzgibbon said the swing was not a huge surprise and that he was happy to still gain 62.67 percent of the two party preferred vote.

“Michael made a strong campaign this year,” he said.

“Both Labor and myself had incredibly strong support in the 2007 election so I was expecting some drop in the numbers.

“I am very pleased to have been re-elected and now that I have been I want to make sure that the Hunter expressway is built in the three years that the Labor Party promised.

“I also want to see the continuation of our plans for schools and the trade training centres.

“The mining tax will be important to funding our infrastructure.”

While Mr Fitzgibbon and the Labor Party have secured the seat in the Hunter, the governance of Australia remains in doubt.

For a party to have majority in the House of Representatives they need 76 seats but neither the Australian Labor Party or the Liberal Nationals Coalition has achieved this.

Four seats remain in doubt with the final votes deciding the outcome in Denison, Hasluck, Brisbane and Boothby electorates.

Labor currently holds 72 seats and the Coalition 70 meaning that the future of Australia could well come down to where the three independent members and one Greens member place their support.

Mr Fitzgibbon said he was confident that voters would soon see the Labor government cement their control for another term and Julia Gillard remain in the position of Prime Minister.

“We now face an anxious wait as the AEC (Australian Electoral Commission) counts the final votes but I am still confident that Labor will be able to gain power,” he said.

“Labor has more two party preferred support than the coalition and we are best placed to have the independents on side.”