Mr Joyce is no stranger to controversy, often on a national scale, but he told the Leader that New England voters aren't interested in the "raa-raa" - all they care about is if you're getting results.

He says one of the big secrets to his success is his ability to deliver (the other is his hard-working behind-the-scenes team).

Mr Joyce's 55 per cent majority represents a 2.7 per cent increase from his 2016 victory (it was a negative swing from the 2017 by-election but, due to the extraordinary circumstances of a by-election, it is more useful to compare this election to the 2016 data).

The incumbent won just about every booth in the electorate - one booth Mr Joyce didn't win was Werris Creek, but that should come as no surprise. It's the hometown of former independent MP Tony Windsor, whom locals still hold in high regard.

There are always interesting tidbits to be found by drilling down in to the voting data.

In Armidale, Mr Joyce polled comparatively poorer than most other major centres, pulling just over a third of the vote at 35.7 per cent.

But that may have been evened out by the large pre-polling numbers in the city, 52 per cent of which favoured Mr Joyce (pre-poll votes usually trend towards the sitting member).

The Nationals often have more trouble in Armidale, which would be the closest thing the New England has to a Labor-leaning area.

While one in three is nothing to sneeze at, it will be interesting to see if Mr Joyce brings out the money box to try and shore up the support of the electorate's second-biggest city.

Another interesting note is the large increase in the number of people who didn't cast a vote. About 16.5 per cent, or almost 18,400 people, didn't vote.

That's almost a threefold increase from the 2016, when only 7250 people, or 6.63 per cent, didn't make it to the polls.

The informal vote dropped marginally from 7 per cent to 6.5 per cent, for a total of 6140.