James Milligan elected to replace Alistair Coe in Legislative Assembly

Mr Milligan was re-elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly during a countback of 2020 election votes on Thursday.

It wasn't a surprise result. It was widely expected he would replace Mr Coe but nevertheless, Mr Milligan was thrilled to be re-elected as a member for the Gungahlin-based seat of Yerrabi.

"I'm obviously really excited about the result and to come back to the assembly. I'm ready to hit the ground running," he said.

Mr Milligan was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as a Liberal member in 2016.

But he lost his seat at the 2020 election after he was out-polled by fellow Liberal Leanne Castley.

In his time away, Mr Milligan said he played a bit of golf and cricket but he also went back to his publishing company, in fact he was back on the job within a week of the election loss.

"It was a result we were not expecting to be honest but I can't sit there and wallow about it, I had to get on with my life - I had responsibilities and a mortgage to pay as well," he said.

But when Mr Coe signalled his intention to resign in January, Mr Milligan didn't need to second guess whether he would put his hand up to be back.

"I wanted to do this, I wanted to come back," he said.

"With what we did during the previous term and the results we got and even the success we did have there's huge potential for us to make a big difference."

Mr Coe officially resigned from the Legislative Assembly on March 12 and the ACT electoral commission gave its 10-day notice on March 15 to candidates who wished to take part in the countback.

Eleven candidates nominated for the countback including former Labor MLA Deepak-Raj Gupta (who also lost his seat at the 2020 election) and Liberal candidates Jacob Vadakkedathu and Krishna Nadimpalli.

The countback was over in a matter of minutes; all that was needed was the push of a button.

Mr Milligan won't have much time to settle into the job as there are two assembly sitting days next week but it is unlikely he will have a shadow portfolio with Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee not expected to undertake a reshuffle until after Easter.

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Mr Milligan previously served in the shadow portfolios of Indigenous affairs and sports and recreation.

Ms Lee remained coy on what shadow portfolios Mr Milligan was likely to receive but hinted at his sporting and business background.

"James brought plenty of passion and enthusiasm to his electorate and shadow portfolios last term. The connections he was able to make and the voices he was able to represent was significant," she said.

"And James also brings with him not only the experience that he gained as a member in the last term, but also of course, his small business background, the fact that he's been very heavily involved in sport, and his community background as well."

As part of the reshuffle key portfolios such as shadow treasurer and planning will be up for grabs. Mr Milligan wouldn't say if he was interested in the portfolios but did hint at a desire for the sport and recreation role.

"Sport and recreation was definitely a portfolio I really liked and we achieved good things in it," he said.

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