Edited sentence: However, the 5.84% increase is in line with the national swing of 5.6%.On 24 November 2007 the seat of Maribyrnong was retained by the Labor Party's Bill Shorten with an increased majority of 15.31%.Sercombe has been criticised for taking the seat for granted and failing to campaign to keep a strong majority.When he was first elected in 1996 the ALP held the seat with an 18.85% majority.While there was a small increase of 3.21% at the 1998 election, by 2004 the ALP held onto the seat with a 9.47% majority, a drop of 12.59% in six years