KOROROIT may be one of Labor’s safest Lower House seats, but in the lead-up to the 25 November poll candidates from both major parties are being careful not to call the race before it’s been run.
MP Andre Haermeyer has held the seat for the past four years, having moved from the marginal northern seat of Yan Yean to Kororoit back at the 2002 state election.
Mr Haermeyer, who is Minister of Manufacturing and Export, Financial Services and Small Business, is careful not to sound upbeat about his chances of retaining his seat, which he holds by a massive 27 per cent margin.
“You never say never in politics,” Mr Haermeyer told Star last week.
His opponent, Liberal candidate Mick Alexander, is holding out hope that last election’s landslide Labor win, where Labor ended up with around 58 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, may have gone to Labor’s head.
“Funnier things have happened,” he said when Star asked him about his chances of scoring such a large swing in a couple of weeks.
Mr Alexander, who actually lives in Geelong, said he decided to run against Mr Haermeyer because he wants to see more money spent on health and schools around the areas of Caroline Springs and Kings Park.
“Everywhere in Victoria the current government is letting us down,” he said last week.
Kororoit sits 13 kilometres outside Melbourne’s CBD, taking in the growing suburbs of Caroline Springs, Albanvale and Kings Park, as well as part of Deer Park and St Albans, and last election had just over 35,000 enrolled voters.
Mr Alexander said he would move from Geelong if he were elected, adding that living where he does gives him an understanding of the needs of families in areas like Caroline Springs.
But according to Mr Haermeyer, claims of Labor neglect in the West are spurious at best, especially following hot on the heels of the previous Liberal government.
“The West got nothing out of Kennett,” Mr Haermeyer said.
He said Labor’s commitment to expand Sunshine Hospital was a sign the damage done under the previous Liberal Government was finally being fixed.
The Labor Party has pledged $184 million to build a new 64-bed wing at the hospital and new radiotherapy facilities, while the Liberals have pledged to address bed shortages at Western Hospital.
The strong residential growth in the western corridor – especially around Caroline Spings – will be a major issue for Kororoit, with many locals concerned at the lack of adequate public transport in the area.
Should he be re-elected, Mr Haermeyer said he would continue to push for a train line out to Caroline Springs.
Aside from the major parties, the Citizens Electoral Council’s Andre Kozlowski, Family First’s Tania Walters and the Greens’ Marcus Power are also running for the seat of Kororoit.
