Ms Atkinson said she was "disappointed with the result".

"We were campaigning for nearly a year," she said. "I acknowledge the majority of the electorate has seen that Andrew Constance is the local member they want.

"I have to accept the outcome, and I respect the decision of the electorate to vote based on what they need."

Ms Atkinson gained 30.59 per cent of the primary vote, some 19 per cent lower than Liberal candidate Andrew Constance according to the NSW Electoral Commission.

READ ALSO: Constance 'incredibly grateful' for fifth-straight term

"Over the coming days, I'll reflect on what I may have done better, and it may be that people just didn't see me as the person they wanted to represent them," Ms Atkinson said.

"It's disappointing that climate change didn't have an effect on people's votes, and that the cost of living pressures that I tried to talk about didn't work.

"I believe the privatisation experiment hasn't worked, but the general public mustn't share my view."

Ms Atkinson expressed disappointment in some aspects of the campaign.

"It was disappointing that Andrew Constance implied that I was preferencing the shooters, when I wasn't," she said. "I put Mr Constance on the bottom of the ballot, but that was because he was my only realistic competition.

"I also preferenced the conservatives at the lower end of my ballot as well."

BLOG: How election day unfolded across the Bega electorate

Ms Atkinson thanked her support team for a long campaign.

"I am so grateful to all the volunteers and supporters," she said. "All the people I met and had the opportunity to talk to, people who shared personal stories, people that took the time to talk to me about what was important to them, I really valued meeting and getting to know so many people across the electorate.

"We may not always agree on policy, but we're still one community, and I'll have some very fond memories of the polling booths, and sharing laughs and stories."