The crowd held its breath as former rugby giant David Pocock neared the finish line.

It had been three tense weeks since the federal election; today was the morning that would show whether the young hopeful’s months of training and campaigning would pay off.

Pocock, environmentalist and ex-Wallaby, was the odds-on favourite to become the ACT’s first Independent senator, and Liberal incumbent Zed Seselja was playing a defensive game.

Seselja had 24.8 per cent of the vote (0.74 quotas), and Pocock only 21.2 per cent (0.64 quotas) – but political pundits predicted that preferences from players knocked out of the match would sweep Pocock to victory.

Would Seselja be returned for his fourth term, or would Pocock win?

And he scored!

The referees made the call: David Pocock was officially the ACT’s new senator. And the crowd went wild.

• Read more: David Pocock has his eye on the ball (May 2022)

“A huge, huge honour to have it confirmed, and to be able to represent a place I love and a community I love,” the now Senator-elect Pocock said.

Labor’s Katy Gallagher, finance minister in the new Albanese government, was a shoo-in for the ACT’s other Senate seat – which she has held since 2015 (except for a brief interruption due to the dual citizenship crisis of 2018).

“Being chosen to represent the people of Canberra in the Senate is an honour and a privilege I don’t take lightly,” she said. “I know that Canberrans expect a lot of me, and I’ve already hit the ground running to get started on delivering on Prime Minister Albanese’s vision for a better future.”

David Molnar, Australian Electoral Officer for the ACT, said the formal declaration would take place tomorrow morning at 10am.

“From there, I can get cracking, actually getting an office together, and ensuring that we can stay accessible and accountable to people in the ACT,” Pocock said.

“There’s a lot to do. We’ve made the most of the last few weeks, continuing to consult with stakeholders and people in the community, do some planning.”

For the last three weeks, Pocock’s people have been hitting ‘refresh’ on the AEC results. This morning, the AEC pressed another button – to redistribute preferences, and he emerged a winner.

“So grateful to live in a country like Australia, where we have such a robust and sound democratic system,” Pocock said.

Gallagher and Seselja telephoned Pocock a few minutes after the AEC declared the result.

“We had a good chat,” Pocock said. “Zed congratulated me; I thanked him for his nine years of service.”

Gallagher congratulated Pocock for his successful campaign. “I look forward to working with you, both in the interests of the nation and the people of Canberra.”

She told Canberra Daily: “I’ve always put Canberrans first, and the commitment that I make to the people of the ACT today is that I will work with Senator Pocock to ensure that the decisions we make are in-line with Canberra’s values and in the best interest of our community.”

AAP expected that with 26 senators, Labor will need the support of 12 Greens senators and Pocock to pass legislation and motions in the 76-seat upper house from July 1.

“I’m committed to constructively working with the territory and federal governments to get good outcomes for people in the ACT,” Pocock said. “My role is also to hold them to account for things that they promise, that they deliver on, and that we’re listening to people here in the ACT.”

Pocock ran on a platform of making politics about people again, community representation, and integrity. He had enormous public support, and more than 2,000 volunteers – many involved in politics for the first time.

“My sense in talking to many people across Canberra is that there’s a frustration with the way that the big issues have been politicized. There’s a real need to start to rebuild trust in politics and our institutions. We’re clearly facing some really big challenges as a country. And that’s going to take leadership and vision and actually making decisions that will benefit all of us.”

He is pleased the government will prioritise integrity, the cost of living, housing affordability, and climate – issues he campaigned on.

“The job of politicians [is to] ensure that the policies that get passed through [the Senate] are in the best interests of all of us, addressing the problems we face but also creating the kind of future that we want here. There are big challenges, but I really believe we can turn them into opportunities for all of us.”

On climate change, Labor has set a target of reducing emissions by 43 per cent by 2030; Pocock thinks it should be higher: 60 per cent.

But, he said, he is committed to “being pragmatic and constructive, and ensuring that we get something that moves us beyond the insanity we’ve seen when it comes to targets and the lack of climate action. Most Australians want something legislated; we need the big policy settings to unlock billions of dollars of private investment to speed up the transition.”

He has said his first action as Senator would be a bill on Territory rights, giving the Legislative Assembly the right to legislate on voluntary assisted dying.

“Clearly territory rights are something that’s not going to cost the government any money,” Pocock said. “I think it would be a great gesture to actually prioritize this for the Territories, ensuring that people who live in the territories have the same rights as people who live in states to debate and legislate on things like voluntary assisted dying.”

He also supports a constitutional First Nations Voice to the Australian parliament and a Makarrata Commission called for by the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Labor government has said it will hold a referendum this term; the Turnbull Liberal government rejected the statement in 2017.

“To me, the Uluru statement from the heart is just such a generous offer to all Australians to begin to move forward and address our past and to build a future together,” Senator-elect Pocock said. “It’s obviously a complex issue, and it’s going to take a lot of work to ensure that it’s done the right way to get a good result at a referendum. But again, great to see the government committed to it after five years of ignoring what is such a generous offer.”

Politics might be a different ballgame – but the ball’s in Pocock’s court.

ACT Government: “The start of a new era”

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr congratulated Katy Gallagher and David Pocock for their election to the Senate.

“I’m confident that they will provide the Territory with excellent representation in the new Parliament, and that their election is the start of a new era to Commonwealth-Territory relations,” he said.

“Senator Pocock should be very proud of the campaign he ran at the Federal election. It is clear from the result that many of the issues that Mr Pocock ran on – action on climate change, a national integrity commission, Territory rights, and better representation for the ACT in the Senate – were very important to Canberrans. I recently met with Senator Pocock to discuss many of the issues raised during the campaign, and I look forward to significant progress on many of our shared goals.

“Regrettably, former Senator Seselja often used his role in the Senate to attack the ACT Government. In hindsight, he might regret that more was not achieved for the ACT over the last decade. Politics is a tough business, and Zed played the game as hard as anyone. Nevertheless, there were some areas of shared progress, and I thank him for those outcomes. I wish him and his family all the best for what comes next.”