Topic: State and Territory Elections
Victorians will head to the polls on November 28 to decide who will hold the balance of power in the state for the next four years.
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When Cranbourne was created ahead of the 1992 state election it covered a vast geographic area from Carrum Downs in the west, along Western Port Bay in the south, and over to the Bunyip River in the east. 10 years later, when its boundaries were redrawn, it shrank from 576 square kilometres to just over 100 to focus mainly on Cranbourne and Carrum Downs .
It became a safe Labor seat upon the change in boundaries. Over the years the seat has further contracted on Cranbourne and its neighbouring suburbs, now covering an area of around 63 square kilometres.
Former Labor member Jude Perera faced two tough contests in Cranbourne against former VFL star player Geoff Ablett, who ran for the Liberals in 2010 and 2014, but Labor has otherwise held the seat with ease since 2002. Current member Pauline Richards won the seat in 2018 with more than 50 per cent of the primary vote and held it in 2022 with only a small swing against her on slightly weaker boundaries for Labor.
However, the 2022 result also saw minor right-wing parties pick up almost 15 per cent of the vote. The seat is relatively diverse but has lots of mortgage holders and blue-collar workers. If One Nation is making inroads with non-Anglo voters it may be competitive in seats like this one.
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The Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund has been a hotly debated political topic in the lead-up to the election.
Introduced by Labor in 2025, the new levy replaced the existing Fire Services Levy already attached to land rates in Victoria and is used to fund fire services, the SES and Triple Zero.
But it came with a tax hike, with some farmers saying the change meant they would pay tens of thousands of dollars more each year.
The levy's introduction sparked protests on the steps of parliament , with convoys of fire trucks lined up on Spring Street.
CFA volunteers argued they were getting slugged with an extra tax when they already contribute time — and in many cases — money to their local brigades.
The Coalition and One Nation both pledged to scrap the wildly unpopular levy during their election campaigns.
A Liberal Party-supported petition prepared for parliament attracted nearly 44,000 signatures — understood to be a record for a Victorian parliamentary petition.
Labor initially backed down from the public pressure, capping the rate charged on farmland at 28.7 per cent for two years.
Now, the Carroll government vowed to make the cap permanent if re-elected.
The ABC's Jane McNaughton , Warwick Long and Justine Longmore have the full story below:
Opposition leader Jess Wilson swapped Spring Street for the pub on Thursday night, stopping in at Wodonga’s Blazing Stump Hotel.
Wilson travelled from Melbourne in her campaign bus and joined Liberal candidate for Benambra Steve Martin , meeting locals ahead of an expected morning of campaigning in the region today.
There were plenty of introductions, a few beers poured by Wilson herself and an offer to pick up the tab.
One punter seemed impressed with her bar skills, telling her she poured well.
But locals were also keen to talk about the issues affecting the region, including the state of the roads and the controversial redevelopment of the Albury Hospital.
One woman told Wilson a new hospital was “desperately needed" as there were not enough beds and people were dying.
We're bringing you live coverage today from the Victorian state election campaign trail.
Labor and the Liberals will resume their election campaigns, travelling across the state in big campaign buses to visit critical electorates.
We'll be bringing you any new policy announcements, plus coverage from the day of public hearings in the Big Build royal commission.
