Candidates firm ahead of state election

THE state election is a solid 11 months away, but some candidates in the Geelong region have already been confirmed that they will run.

The Labor and Liberal parties have finalised or are in the process of finalising the lineup over who their endorsed candidates will be across the state, but the internal policies of both parties prohibit either party from declaring who is in the mix for preselection, and only Liberal candidates can reveal themselves before preselection is complete.

For Labor, the deadline to nominate to stand in a state seat was 10am on December 10.

In South Barwon, Labor MP Darren Cheeseman was unopposed in the preselection and will try to hold the southern Geelong-based seat on a margin of about 3.6 per cent at the poll on November 26.

“I welcome the opportunity to once again stand as the endorsed Labor candidate for the state seat of South Barwon,” he said on December 14.

“I look forward to spending 2022 delivering the important projects and election commitments that our growing community needs, and if given the responsibility again at the next election, I hope to continue that work in the four years after that.”

South Barwon will be significantly smaller at the election, with an electoral redistribution shifting Torquay, Jan Juc and Bellbrae into the neighbouring seat of Polwarth.

Liberal MP Richard Riordan has represented the electorate of Polwarth since 2015, and will attempt to hold the seat and its new boundaries on a margin of only about 2.2 per cent. Labor has not yet endorsed a candidate for the seat.

Bellarine MP Lisa Neville defeated then-Liberal candidate Brian McKiterick with a two-party preferred swing of 6.6 per cent in 2018, retaining the seat with a further increased margin of more than 10 per cent.

She confirmed she was the only nomination in the ALP preselection process for Bellarine and said as a result she “felt honoured to be representing the party at the state election”.

“I have to say that for me personally this year has been a tough one in which I have battled the effects of long term Crohns disease.

“But having spent a stint in hospital, my health now continues to improve, and I am again enjoying my duties as a Minister and working for the Bellarine.

“It has been an honour and a pleasure to have represented the people of the Bellarine Peninsula in Parliament for just on 20 years.

“Over that time, I have developed close working relationships within every Bellarine town, be that the local school, community organisation, church, sporting club or local business.

“And I was personally humbled when so many of these people took the time to wish me well on my return to work and in doing so encouraged me to stand again at next year’s election.”

Geelong MP Christine Couzens will recontest her seat, also on a margin of more than 10 per cent.

Long-standing Labor MP John Eren is stepping down from the safe seat of Lara (it has a 19 per cent margin), and one of his former staffers, Ella George, will run.

In the Upper House, incumbent MPs Jaala Pulford and Gayle Tierney have been endorsed to stand again in the Western Victoria Region.