Mr. Barr won with 72.61 per cent of the two party-preferred votes counted so far, after gaining a massive 62 per cent of the primary vote.

Of the 34 polling places in the Cessnock electorate, Labor topped the count at all but four – with Black Hill, Milbrodale and Pokolbin voters favouring the Nationals while Wollombi got behind the Greens.

Mr. Barr said he was thankful to the people of the Cessnock electorate and the Hunter as a whole for putting their faith back in Labor.

Labor holds seven Hunter seats with Mr. Barr, Sonia Hornery (Wallsend), Tim Crakanthorp (Newcastle) and Jodie Harrison (Charlestown) retaining their seats, and Yasmin Catley (Swansea), Jenny Aitchison (Maitland) and Kate Washington (Port Stephens) making up the new team.

Mr. Barr – who won the 2011 election with a margin of 3.9 per cent – said the swing towards Labor in the Hunter showed promise for 2019.

He said the election results reflect the anti-privatisation stance of the people of regional NSW, while other issues including the Newcastle rail line truncation, increase in TAFE fees and the corruption inquiry would have also been on Hunter voters’ minds.

Mr. Barr said he is looking forward to once again going into bat for the community on issues such as the power sell-off, education and employment.

He said Luke Foley’s leadership will provide an open exchange of ideas and alternate arguments.

“When the opportunity arises and there’s debate in the chamber, I’ll be making sure I have a say for the community,” he said.

“Even if you lose the debate, you’ve still put their voice forward.”

He will be continuing his “Barr-B-Qs” and will be getting out to the newly-gazetted parts of the electorate including Laguna, Broke, Milbrodale and Putty.

“It’s refreshing for the community to know that you’re accessible,” he said.

The legislative assembly poll will be declared on April 8.

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FIRST PREFERENCE COUNT (AT 10AM MARCH 31)

Clayton Barr (Labor) – 62.48%; 

Jessica Price-Purnell (Nationals) – 23.17%

Lindy Williams (Greens) – 8.28%

Domenic Loprieato (No Land Tax) – 3.20%

Julie Johnson (Christian Democrats) – 2.88%

TWO-PARTY PREFERRED

Clayton Barr (Labor) – 72.61%

Jessica Price-Purnell (Nationals) – 27.39%