THE Wagga Wagga electorate has placed its trust in independent Joe McGirr to represent this region in the NSW parliament for the next four years.
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Saturday's result demonstrates an unequivocal vote of confidence in Dr McGirr and his "reasonable, progressive" centrist agenda - to use his terms.
Byelection results can be flukey. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances in which one is called, there can be a surprise winner - as Dr McGirr was last September.
But then, when the general election rolls around, there is the risk of a correction, with the electorate settling back into old habits.
Not this time.
In just six months, Dr McGirr's primary vote has risen from 12,003 to 18,207 (as of close of counting on Saturday).
This substantial swing came largely at the expense of Country Labor Dan Hayes' primary vote, which dramatically collapsed from 11,197 to just 5861.
But the Nationals, who fought so bitterly against their Coalition partner for the right to stand in this election, failed badly.
With Wagga now safely held by an independent and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers winning the seat of Murray, having ousted the sitting Nationals MP, the party that claims to represent the bush has a lot of soul-searching to do.
Looking at a booth-by-booth breakdown of the results, voters in towns in the Riverina's farming heartland failed to buy what the Nationals were selling.
Adelong, Batlow, Lockhart and The Rock - centres whose fortunes rise and fall on the back of the agriculture industry - all returned a majority for Dr McGirr.
It has been a stunning rise for Dr McGirr.
The one-time "accidental MP" has admitted he gave himself little chance of winning when he first entered the byelection race last August.
But now, with a second election win to his name, he can head to parliament not for a six-month trial but a four-year term confident that he truly deserves to be there.
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The exact make-up of that parliament is still to be decided.
The Coalition, led by Gladys Berejiklian, will form government, but whether that is a minority or majority government will be answered in the days ahead.
That final result could be crucial in terms of what power and influence Dr McGirr will ultimately hold in the parliament.
One thing we do know is it will be a very interesting four years.