Now the work begins for new Murray MP

As much as it was a vote for her, Ms Dalton’s win was also seen as a backlash against The Nationals and their involvement in the management of water issues surrounding the Murray Darling Basin.

“That’s why I ran. I’m sick of us being regarded as second-class citizens and receiving nothing,” a triumphant Ms Dalton said.

“I’ve run for our children and our grandchildren – because they should have a future here. We have been sold out by the Coalition for more than 35 years and they deserved to be flogged. And they have been.

“They deserve everything they’ve got because they did not listen to us, they’ve ignored us as if we didn’t matter — and we do matter.”

Ms Dalton also described her win as “a relief that it’s finally happened”.

SHE said she was “so fearful our area would be further degraded and become even less relevant than what they’ve (The Nationals) made it”.

“We are a strong, very highly productive area and oh, God, there’s so much to do, there’s so much that needs changing,” she said.

“It’s all about water. And our access to water has been eroding for decades, we know that.

“Plus our infrastructure, health and education have been wound right back too so we’ve lost a lot of services.

“I think we can do a lot from the crossbench,” she said. “We’ll hold a balance of power. We’ll hold them to account. I hope our vote will hold a lot of sway.”

For the more astute political observers the writing in Murray may have been on the wall as far back as 2015, her first attempt as an independent to win Murray – on the same platform she used this year.

At that time she picked up 18.2 per cent of the vote while The Nationals’ Adrian Piccoli suffered a swing against him of 22.3 per cent in the primary vote and 8.3 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

When Austin Evans retained the seat for the Nationals in the 2017 by-election he copped another voter backlash, with his primary vote cut a further 14.8 per cent while Ms Dalton’s rose 35.7 per cent.

The Murray buffer had been cut from an unassailable double-figures to just 3.3 per cent going into the weekend’s election.

At which point support for the Nationals across NSW collapsed and Team Dalton swept to victory on a 22 per cent swing tsunami.

Since she first burst onto the political stage in the 2015 election Ms Dalton has had her sights unashamedly on one issue – water.

A farmer and former teacher, she’s worked on water for more than 10 years and has been a leading light in the demand for change.

The celebrations at her campaign headquarters might still be going today but the new Member for Murray was already getting down to business.

Because for her and so many others across the electorate, the water crisis is a ticking time bomb and she believes politicians need to act fast before it explodes.