A senior lecturer in Politics and Policy Studies at Deakin University Waurn Ponds predicts Labor’s Alison Marchant to win the seat of Bellarine at the November 26 state election.
While Dr Geoff Robinson expected a swing back for Donnie Grigau’s Liberal Party, he said Labor would retain the seat even with the retirement of stalwart Lisa Neville.
“I’d expect a swing back for the Liberals there, but it’s probably got those other patterns that it shares with the other parts of Geelong in terms of the demographic shift being towards Labor overall,” he said.
“It does have maybe some of those sort of safe Labor areas, where some people are talking about a bit of a backlash against the government.
“Even though Lisa Neville is retiring, I’d still expect Labor to hold Bellarine.”
The Voice reached out to all nine candidates for the seat of Bellarine this week to supply a 50-word comment on why they should receive your vote and three – Labor’s Alison Marchant, Animal Justice Party’s Adam Cardilini and Independent Sarah Fenton – had responded by the deadline given.
“Labor is doing what matters for the Bellarine – we’ve upgraded schools and community facilities, protected our environment with township boundaries and we’re building the new Barwon Women’s & Children’s hospital,” Ms Marchant said.
“Only Labor has a plan to bring back the SEC, driving down power prices, and deliver Free Kinder and TAFE.”
“I’ll work to protect the Bellarine from overdevelopment and uphold the commitment to the Distinctive Areas and Landscape plan,” Mr Cardilini said.
“I’ll fight for climate action which protects our most vulnerable and commits to drawdown – 1.5 degrees Celsius is dangerous. Vote for the Bellarine DAL, a safe climate, and to end duck hunting.”
“I’m running as I want to stand up and be counted, rather than complaining from the sidelines,” Ms Fenton said.
“I am sick and tired of the two-party system. I am standing to represent our community with a balanced community lead approach. We need better public transport, action on protecting our environment, reforms to IBAC and a focus on health and aged care what’s important to the Bellarine community.”
