Gellibrand candidates have narrowed down the issues affecting voters across the West, although without any large funding promises it is unlikely the safe Labor seat will be threatened.
The Liberals funding promises outside the electorate, including $200 million towards the West Gate Bridge, may encourage voters although Labor’s promises of $900 million for the Western Ring Road and $120 million for the West Gate Bridge are expected to counter that.
The Gellibrand electorate, which incorporates parts of the City of Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay, has been held by Labor since it was formed in 1949 and is now held by 15 per cent.
Almost 94 per cent of voters turned out for the last election, although with more than 6 per cent casting informal votes, voters have been encouraged to read the election material to ensure their votes will count.
Voters must number all squares on the House of Representatives green ballot paper and place a number ‘1’ in one of the squares above the black line on the Senate white ballot paper in order to cast a formal vote.
Socialist Alliance candidate Ben Courtice will be first on the ballot paper followed by Australian Democrats’ Rachel Richards, the Greens’ Robert Gibson, independent Dave O’Neil, the Liberals’ Wayne Tseng, Family First’s Mukesh Garg, Australian Labor Party’s Nicola Roxon and Citizens Electoral Council’s Rodney Doel. For those not attending a polling booth, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said all postal votes must be returned before election day to ensure they were received in time to be counted.
For details on how to vote and polling locations call the AEC on 13 23 26 or log onto the website at www.aec.gov.au.
