Tight result predicted for Melbourne by-election

Updated

July 20, 2012 17:54:49


Barrie Cassidy previews Melbourne by-election
Video: Barrie Cassidy previews Melbourne by-election
(The Midday Report)

Labor and the Greens have made their final pitch to voters before Saturday’s Melbourne by-election.

Both sides are predicting a tight result which is likely to be determined by preferences from the other candidates contesting the poll.

There are 16 candidates vying for the seat, but it is essentially a two-horse race between the ALP’s Jennifer Kanis and Greens candidate, Cathy Oke.

Victorian Labor leader Daniel Andrews says voters in Melbourne should support Ms Kanis because the Greens will not defeat Ted Baillieu.

“The lily-white purity we see from the Greens is ultimately impotent and delivers nothing,” he said.

“The people of Melbourne, they have an opportunity not just to elect a good member for Melbourne, but to elect someone who can work well beyond the boundaries of Melbourne, supporting good causes, good issues, making this state fairer.

“I think that will be on people’s minds when they vote.”

Ms Kanis has dismissed speculation the party’s federal woes are hurting her campaign.

She says the vote will be tight, but it is being played out on state issues.

“People in Victoria are very upset about the TAFE cuts,” she said.

“They’re very upset about the lack of a jobs plan in Victoria and they’re quite frankly you know disappointed in the performance of the Baillieu Government.

“People haven’t really been talking to me much about federal issues.”

But Greens spokesman Greg Barber says Labor has run a negative campaign and voters in Melbourne are sick of the major parties.

“The voters can only decide based on the policies put forward by the candidates,” he said.

“We’ve launched 10 policies so far and Labor has launched none and the voters will have to decide what to make of that.”

Catholic education officials distributed a letter to homes in the state seat of Melbourne, claiming the Greens want to wind back funding for non-government schools.

Ms Oke says it is unclear how much damage the letterbox drop has done to her campaign but the claims are untrue.

“We don’t know how damaging it is but it is incredibly misleading and incredibly disappointing that that letter has been sent out,” she said.

“The Greens party fully support the Gonski review and the recommendations and that $5 billion is essential for all schools.”

If the Greens’ win, Ms Oke will become the party’s first representative in the lower house, in a seat held by Labor for more than a century.

Topics:
government-and-politics,
political-parties,
alp,
greens,
elections,
state-parliament,
melbourne-3000

First posted

July 20, 2012 07:36:54


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