A safe seat is generally defined as any seat with a margin of more than 5 per cent.<\/p>\n
Labor currently holds the seats of Geelong (14.7 per cent), Lara (15.9 per cent), Bellarine (6 per cent), and South Barwon (6 per cent), with only Polwarth (1.8 per cent) held by the Liberals.<\/p>\n
Clearly our region has been very Labor-dominated!<\/p>\n
So, what will all these new candidates be promising to get our votes?<\/strong><\/p>\n Reviewing some data from the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office, in 2022, the Labor Party’s election platform was estimated at approximately $4.44 billion in assets and investments.<\/p>\n Of that spending, government held marginal seats with under-5 per cent margins received the highest concentration of localised election spending.<\/p>\n Interestingly, opposition-held seats with small margins received the next highest spending.<\/p>\n Safe-held seats of both parties are receiving the least amount of dollars, and unfortunately, we are one of those regions!<\/p>\n If government spending was distributed purely on a population basis, you would expect the Geelong region to receive roughly 5 per cent of state expenditure.<\/p>\n But in the period since the 2022 election, state commitments made and delivered in Geelong is only 2-3 per cent!<\/p>\n At the 2022 election, Labor made several commitments for Geelong, including funding for the Geelong Art Centre, Kardinia Park precinct, revitalisation of central Geelong, education upgrades and additional capacity at our hospitals.<\/p>\n But most of the larger announcements for Geelong were focused on neighbouring electorates such as Polwarth, Bellarine and South Barwon, one would assume, due to the smaller margins in those seats.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even considering the federally funded Geelong City Deal, only about 64 per cent of it was spent in Geelong, because guess what, it has similar margins as the state!<\/p>\n The rest was spent way down the Surf Coast or in Queenscliff. Some of it was spent over 200km away! So much for a Geelong City Deal!<\/p>\n I think we can all judge what was delivered and what wasn’t, but the fact remains that if we want strong electoral commitments and our share of the budget dollars, we need much tighter margins, no matter who wins the overall election.<\/p>\n Geelong is in desperate need of our share, and that requires both parties to start making some significant promises for Geelong itself.<\/p>\n As constituents, we should forget party loyalty and vote to put our town at the top of the priority list.<\/p>\n So here is my top three wish list for both parties to consider this election:<\/strong><\/p>\n No. 1<\/strong> \u2013 The compulsory acquisition of Market Square and implementation of the Green Heart Project, as proposed by the Committee for Geelong and supported by the Chamber of Commerce and Geelong council. This was also strongly supported by a local survey.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/GarethHS_71149.jpg\")