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MORE CHEESE – Cheeseman set to win South Barwon as Labor holds power in a landslide

November 28, 2018 BY

Darren Cheeseman is all smiles in Torquay after Saturday’s election result.

LABOR candidate for South Barwon Darren Cheeseman is almost certainly the new member for South Barwon, defeating incumbent Liberal MP Andrew Katos in a state election that saw Labor massively increase its majority and retain government.

More than 62 per cent of votes had been counted by Monday night, with Mr Cheeseman receiving 55 per cent of the two-party preferred vote in South Barwon.

The change of MPs was part of a huge statewide swing that has seen Labor win at least 52 seats compared to at least 24 for the Liberal Nationals.

Speaking to this newspaper on Monday, Mr Cheeseman said Labor’s offering to the Geelong region was “quite an attractive proposition”, and his own position on no development in Spring Creek “played a pretty decisive role in switching votes” in Torquay.

He said the Liberal Nationals’ central campaign was “terrible”.

“Matthew Guy can run around and scare people with crime statistics, but no-one bought it.”

Mr Cheeseman said that as the member for South Barwon, he would “continue to conduct myself in a way which is in touch and in keeping with the aspirations of this community”.

“I’ll continue to speak out for this community against vested interests and others that might wish to see things done differently.”

Mr Katos said he was disappointed in the result, but thanked the voters who continued to support him.

“I’m proud of what I’ve done in my time; Surf Coast Secondary College is probably my strongest achievement in terms of infrastructure.

“Darren Cheeseman now has to give a very clear timeline about moving Torquay’s town boundary back to Duffields Road and to get this thing moving.”

Labor held onto all its seats elsewhere in the Geelong region, with Bellarine MP Lisa Neville defeating Liberal Brian McKiterick and Geelong MP Christine Couzens holding off both Liberal Freya Fidge and independent Darryn Lyons.

In the upper house region of Western Victoria, Labor’s Jaala Pulford and Gayle Tierney were elected alongside Beverley McArthur from the Liberals, with the final two seats likely to go to Andy Meddick from the Animal Justice Party and Stuart Grimley from Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.

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