Candidates decided for Victorian election

VOTERS extremely keen to have their say in next week’s election are now doing so, with ballot draws finalised and early voting opening.

On Monday this week, the Victorian Electoral Commission announced a record 115,065 votes were cast on the first day of early voting – a 52 per cent increase on the 75,612 votes cast on day one of early voting in 2018.

In the Geelong region, there are 39 candidates for the Legislative Assembly in the five electorates here.

The candidates are listed here, in the order they were drawn to appear on the ballot paper on Friday last week:

LARA

• Courtney Gardner – Greens
• Sarah Hathway – Socialist Alliance
• Ralph Krein – Liberal
• Steve Rankine – Family First Victoria
• Ella George – Labor
• Peter Kelly – Animal Justice Party
• Ash Taylor – Angry Victorians Party
• Max Payne – Liberal Democrats.

GEELONG

• Madeleine Parker-Hill – Family First
• Angela Carr – Socialist Alliance
• Stephen Juhasz – Independent
• James Bennett-Hullin – Liberal
• Christine Couzens – Labor
• Bob Motta – Animal Justice Party
• Aleisha Smith – Greens.

BELLARINE

• Rachel Semmens – Greens
• Donnie Grigau – Liberal
• Guy Manuell – Family First Victoria
• Brett Anthony Ritchie – Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party
• Kylee Muse – Freedom Party of Victoria
• Brendan Taylor – Angry Victorians Party
• Alison Marchant – Labor
• Adam Cardilini – Animal Justice Party
• Sarah Fenton – Independent.

SOUTH BARWON

• Andrew Katos – Liberal
• Jeynelle Marie Dean – Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party
• Genevieve Frances Dawson-Scott, Greens
• Leone Bates – Labor DLP
• Alan Barron – Family First Victoria
• Naomi Adams – Animal Justice Party
• Simone Tomlinson – Freedom Party of Victoria
• Darren Cheeseman – Labor.

POLWARTH

• Hilary McAllister – Greens
• Denes C. Borsos – Independent
• Hollie Hunter – Family First Victoria
• Hutch Hussein – Labor
• Elisha Atchison – Animal Justice Party
• Joseph Vincent Remenyi – Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party
• Richard Riordan – Liberal.

In the upper house, there are 22 group voting tickets for parties in the Western Victoria Region and 56 candidates spread between them, plus one independent.

The VEC urges all voters planning to vote early to check its online voting centre locator before they head off, to see which early voting centres are affected.

The VEC’s voting centre locator can be found at maps.vec.vic.gov.au/elections or voters can phone 131 832 for assistance in finding an early voting centre.

For more information on how and where to vote, head to vec.vic.gov.au/voting/2022-state-election