Campaigning ramps up in Melbourne ahead of tomorrow’s vote
Voters in south east Melbourne will have their say tomorrow, in a by-election contest dominated by cost of living pressures. The by-election is being seen as a test for both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Transcript
00:00 Tomorrow's by-election will be competing for attention with the local footy teams clash
00:06 with the northern Bullhounds here at the Frankston Footy Oval.
00:10 But right now, this is an early voting centre, so all eyes are on the prize for Dunkley.
00:16 And Labor holds this outer suburban seat in Melbourne's Bayside South East with a margin
00:21 of 6.3 per cent.
00:23 But it is expected to be a tight contest.
00:26 And this by-election was triggered by the death of MP Peter Murphy, who lost her battle
00:31 with cancer last year.
00:33 And it's being seen as a real test of the leadership of the Prime Minister, Anthony
00:38 Albanese, but also a challenge of the Opposition leader, Peter Dutton's election strategies
00:45 and his attempts to woo voters in these sorts of outer suburban seats.
00:50 Importantly, after the historic loss in the Aston by-election in Melbourne's East last
00:56 year, when the Opposition was the first to actually lose a federal by-election to a sitting
01:02 government since 1920.
01:05 Now, the ABC's been out on the streets of Dunkley asking voters what issues matter to
01:11 them.
01:12 And not unsurprisingly, we've seen really that it's the same as what so many other people
01:18 around the country are feeling.
01:20 And that is the real pain of the rising cost of living.
01:24 So dealing with those rising power bills, increased fuel costs, interest rates, rents
01:30 going up and also simply just being able to put food on the table.
01:34 Now, the local candidate for Labor, Jody Bellier, says that Labor's tax cuts will mean that
01:42 it will actually help an estimated 87 per cent of the Dunkley voters here.
01:47 And there are 113,000 voters in this electorate.
01:52 While the Liberal candidate, Nathan Conroy, who is currently the Frankston Mayor, says
01:58 that he actually wants Labor to stop spending so much money on advertising these tax cuts
02:05 and instead put some money towards supporting charities like Foodbank to really help those
02:11 people who are doing it tough.
02:13 The other big issue that voters are talking about is crime and the fear that they feel
02:19 about the increasing crime wave in this electorate.
02:23 Now, this is actually a state government responsibility rather than something to do with federal politics.
02:29 But nevertheless, it's got a lot of cut through here and voters really want to hear what local
02:34 candidates have to say about that.
02:37 And the Frankston City Council area actually recorded last year a higher crime rate than
02:43 the state's average.
02:44 But as for what the voters will be doing, well, we will find out after those voting
02:51 closes at 6 o'clock tomorrow.
02:54 They are open at some 32 polling booths from 8 o'clock and that is when the people of Dunkley
03:01 have the opportunity to have a say in the future of their electorate and potentially
03:06 implications for federal politics as well.
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