Tasmania's swinging north returns to Libs

The Liberals' first-time candidates have won the marginal seats of Braddon and Bass in northern Tasmania after PM Scott Morrison made 10 visits to the state.

Scott Morrison Election Campaign

Morrison visited marginal Tasmanian seats Braddon and Bass to help Liberal hopefuls on election day. (AAP)

Tasmania's swinging north has again changed hands, with the Liberals wrestling both Braddon and Bass from Labor.

Beef farmer and former soldier Gavin Pearce triumphed in the northwest seat of Braddon, while local mayor Bridget Archer took out Bass.

The Liberals experienced sizeable swings in both electorates.

They had campaigned heavily in the marginal north, with Scott Morrison making 10 visits during the campaign, including a stop on election day.

"I have never seen a leader like Scott Morrison," Mr Pearce said after claiming 54 per cent of the primary vote with 88 per cent counted.

"He's intelligent, has heart, and the guts to make the tough decisions."

Braddon has gone Labor-Liberal-Labor-Liberal at the past four federal polls.

Labor's Justine Keay won the seat in 2016 on a slim margin of 1.7 per cent and was returned in a July by-election after being caught up in the dual citizenship saga

"It was an absolute honour and privilege to represent the people here, (and) tell their stories in federal parliament," she said at an event in Ulverstone.

In Bass, Ms Archer capitalised on a 6.7 per cent swing to the Liberals to oust Ross Hart.

"I'm so proud of the work that has been put in in the last few months," she told reporters.

"We went into this six or seven months ago and things were looking pretty tight. But we've turned it around."

Labor's Brian Mitchell is on track to take Lyons, which includes a vast swathe of Tasmania's rural centre and east coast.

He got a boost when Jessica Whelan quit the Liberal Party over anti-Muslim social media posts made in her name.

Ms Whelan still ran as an independent.

Further south, Labor's Julie Collins will retain Franklin while independent Andrew Wilkie has been returned in the Hobart seat of Clark.


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Source: AAP


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