Its going to be lineball: Liberals in fierce battle for previously safe coastal seats – The Age

Altmann has built a following after raising integrity issues in Warrnambool institutions through her website The Terrier and advocacy journalism via social media.

She has been a divisive figure, settling several legal matters due to her journalism, and many local observers believe she was instrumental in all seven Warrnambool councillors being voted out in 2020, including her Labor opponent at this election Kylie Gaston.

This is the job that we need doing in Warrnambool, people to step up and be leaders and take on the hard tasks, Altmann said.

She predicts that if the Liberals retain the seat, but lose the election, their calls to upgrade regional roads, open an alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, and for better planning for renewable energy projects will be ignored by a state Labor government.

[Electing an independent] puts both parties on notice that this seat is no longer one that it can just sit back and relax about, Altmann said.

Incumbent Liberal MP Roma Britnell, who was returned in 2018 after Labors Kylie Gaston reduced the seat from its safe 11 per cent margin to 2.3 per cent, said she had never taken her electorate for granted.

Liberal incumbent Roma Britnell insists she has never taken her seat for granted. Credit:Nicole Cleary

She said regional residents missed out on opportunities and infrastructure because the state government considered Melbourne to be more important.

If people think an independent will make it better, theyre so wrong, she said.

While Altmann may take away from the Labor vote, pundits are uncertain how much support she can wrestle from the Liberals. Gaston was unavailable for comment.

In Polwarth, incumbent Liberal MP Richard Riordan said he is facing the fight of his political career.

Riordan has held Polwarth since 2015 when he won a byelection following the retirement of former transport minister Terry Mulder.

Richard Riordan, the Liberal MP for Polwarth.

He said each town had its own local issues but improving healthcare and overhauling the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority were among his main campaign platforms.

Riordan said the inclusion of Torquay had changed the demographics of Polwarth, but he expected a substantial anti-Dan Andrews sentiment would emerge in his electorate at the poll.

If youre [living] along the coast youve had two terrible years of trying to keep your business afloat and managing things, he said.

But Labors Hutch Hussein, who lives in Torquay, argued many Polwarth residents felt the Andrews government supported them in the toughest times during the pandemic.

There are a lot of disillusioned former Liberal voters in Polwarth who have been telling me that they were grateful and valued the state government putting their health first and keeping them safe before we had access to COVID-19 vaccines, she said.

Hutch Hussein speaking at a state Labor conference.Credit:Scott McNaughton

Hussein said even voters in conservative parts of the electorate were aware that having a marginalised Liberal MP shut them out of conversations at the state and federal level.

Deakin University politics lecturer Geoffrey Robinson, who lives near Colac in the Polwarth electorate, said it was no longer assured the Liberals would be returned in both electorates.

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He said while a boundary redistribution had shifted Torquay into Polwarth, which favoured Labor, the party would need a strong campaign to win over conservative voters in Colac.

In the South-West Coast, Altmanns challenge could be appealing to the broader rural electorate beyond her Warrnambool following, Robinson said.

La Trobe University adjunct research fellow Ian Tulloch said a rising Green vote was likely to favour Labor in Polwarth, but that may be counterbalanced by a swing back to the Liberals after the 2018 landslide.

I think its going to be lineball, he said.

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Its going to be lineball: Liberals in fierce battle for previously safe coastal seats - The Age