Vote winner?: Even the blurred broadcast of a Liberal sign as the pacers passed the post in the Kim O’Keefe (sic) Pace at Shepparton sparked a complaint.
Photo by
Darren Linton
The campaign in the seat of Nicholls is coming down to the wire and the little things matter, as teams play the man rather than the ball.
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It happens at every election, but the switch to negative in this campaign is clear and early.
When you get close to polling day, opportunities to sway voters with positive policy and announcements become fewer.
It is also harder to shift voters who are already leaning to one side or another.
‘Vote majors last’: Campaigners intent on telling you who not to support.
Crucial in this election is the unusually high number of undecided voters still in the pool, which has remained close to the 30 per cent it was when the election was called.
Seat by seat there are differences, but there is now a national eye on Nicholls, despite the healthy margin Damian Drum left for his Nationals successor, Sam Birrell, to defend.
Of course, that margin is immediately depleted by the loss of a popular member, and the presence of Liberal candidate Steve Brooks, who provides a conservative alternative.
Independent Rob Priestly has made it a genuine three-cornered contest.
Behind the scenes there are different levels of confidence, but no side is calling the result, which probably won’t be clear on election night.
With pre-poll voting under way we are at the pointy end of the campaign where it is just as important to take votes away from opponents as it is to add to your own support.
The robocalls rolled out by the Victorian Nationals raising a series of questions about Rob Priestly are just the start.
One volunteer called to complain about the way the orange shirt folk are being treated at polling places.
But they are being complained about too, dobbed in for handing out Labor how to vote cards at one polling place.
It isn’t just the majors; Reignite Democracy Australia is running a ‘put the majors last’ campaign, and while they do support candidates that have completed their questionnaire and ticked all the right boxes, they are pretty much there to tell you who not to vote for.
Surely though, the winner goes to the formal complaint to Harness Racing Victoria over the presence of a Steve Brooks (Liberal) campaign poster on the finish line at the Shepparton trots.
The Pacing for Pink meeting was dedicated to a worthy cause, raising money for the McGrath Foundation.
The advertising was legitimate and paid for by a local Liberal supporter, but it still led to a complaint to headquarters.
Maybe it had something to do with being prominent in the finish to race 12 — the Kim O’Keefe (sic) pace — now that our Mayor has thrown her hat in the ring for Nationals pre-selection for the seat of Shepparton at the November state election.
November is still a long way away, but it is clear campaigning will kick off in earnest once the Federal Election is done and dusted.
That makes Cr O’Keeffe’s position as Mayor untenable much earlier than she had hoped.
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