Melton has lengthy been protected Labor territory, however the Liberals and two independents suppose change is on the horizon.
All three candidates are campaigning on the declare that turfing out Labor is the surest technique to finish many years of being taken as a right.
Earlier this afternoon, many of the main candidates have been at Catholic Regional Faculty Melton in Melton West, the world’s busiest voting sales space. Exterior, a line of voters was made to amble previous a gauntlet of contenders desirous to press the flesh.
Jarrod Bingham, an area snake catcher who additionally ran within the federal election early this yr, has the sleeves of his buttoned blue shirt rolled up above the elbows, exposing a snake tattoo on his forearm.
His pitch to voters is that in a doubtlessly shut election, an impartial MP will likely be in a robust negotiating place.
“I’ve my little procuring checklist of what the voters wants,” he mentioned.
Bingham says he desires to win, however will likely be simply as happy if the Liberals take the seat. He has preferenced the Liberal candidate, Graham Watt, second.
There’s some spite between Bingham and the opposite main impartial candidate, Dr Ian Birchall, who has run earlier than and reduce Labor’s margin on the 2018 election, placing the seat into much less protected territory.
“The opposite impartial is just not an impartial; he’s preferenced the Liberal Social gathering. He’s a snake within the grass and he ought to return to Bacchus Marsh,” Birchall says.
Each main events are close to the underside of the checklist on Birchall’s how-to-vote card, though Labor is one place beneath Liberal.
Birchall mentioned he did this after “a pub check” on the weekend, when he heard that the ALP was extra hated in Melton than the Coalition.
Watt, beforehand the Liberal MP for jap suburban Burwood earlier than dropping his seat in 2018, moved to Melton final yr, and says he believes there’s “a temper for change”.
“I believe individuals perceive that they’ve been uncared for and that the infrastructure deficit out right here in Melton is an issue. There’s a number of progress right here however there’s not been progress in infrastructure,” he says.
Labor’s candidate is Steve McGhie, who’s searching for a second time period as MP for Melton. He’s campaigning at a special sales space when The Age visits, however has the help of a number of volunteers wearing State Electrical energy Fee T-shirts, in reference to the occasion’s promise to the electrical energy community to public fingers.
Parav Vij voted Labor, and mentioned he was swayed by the occasion’s promise to take away degree crossings within the space.
“I believe it’s a superb determination, they’ve delivered it somewhere else so I hope they’ll ship it right here,” he mentioned.
However he mentioned he believed Labor would pay extra consideration to Melton if it’s a marginal seat.