THE Make Mallee Marginal campaign will fall short of its mark tomorrow, a leading academic claims.
The Federal seat of Mallee looks set to remain National Party heartland following the Federal Election according to La Trobe University Professorial Fellow in Human Security Dennis Altman.
“Mallee is not a seat everyone will be hanging on Saturday night,” he said.
“It is a totally safe Nationals seat and it will remain a totally safe Nationals seat.”
Swan Hill voters will flock to the polls tomorrow to cast their vote for one of the five candidates contesting the electorate of Mallee, with incumbent Andrew Broad a shoe-in to continue as Mallee’s Federal representative. Mr Broad holds the seat by a margin of 24 per cent — the widest margin in Australia.
The other four candidates — Labor’s Lydia Senior, Greens’ Helen Healy, Citizens Electoral Council’s Chris Lahy and Rise Up Australia’s Tim Middleton, are hoping to topple the Nationals and have implored voters to consider other parties in order to lessen the grip the Nationals have on the electorate and perhaps entice more government money to be spent in the Mallee.
While the status quo is set to remain in the Mallee, elsewhere in the country key regional seats are facing upsets by well-known independent candidates like Rob Oakeshott in Cowper and Tony Windsor in New England.
For more on this story pick up a copy of Friday’s Guardian (July 1).
