Labor heartland rocked by swinging voters in Brunswick, Pascoe Vale
The traditional heartland of Melbourne’s inner-north is turning against Labor despite its election victory. With Brunswick now Green and Pascoe Vale under threat, a change is coming.
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The Greens’ victory in Brunswick and a swing against Pascoe Vale Labor MP Lizzie Blandthorn shows a “brittleness” in the traditional Labor heartland of Melbourne’s inner-north, according to a politics expert.
Despite trailing during counts on election day, Greens candidate Tim Read steadily pulled away from Labor’s Cindy O’Connor as counting continued in Brunswick last week. The seat had never been held by a non-Labor candidate.
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Dr Read claimed victory on Saturday.
“It wasn’t a case of the Greens winning Brunswick but Brunswick going Green,” he told the Leader.
Monash University senior politics lecturer Nick Economou said despite Ms Blandthorn holding onto her seat by a 17 per cent margin, a swell of support for independent candidate Oscar Yildiz showed voters were beginning to move away from Labor.
The Labor MP’s primary vote was reduced by about 10 per cent on the 2014 results, to a total of just under 38 per cent, with Dr Economou saying the reduced margin showed the seat was becoming marginal.
“(Cr Yildiz’s) result is indicative to a certain brittleness in the seat of Pascoe Vale for the Labor Party,” he said.
“Perhaps this is symptomatic of a situation where the Labor Party can’t take the seat of Pascoe Vale for granted anymore.”
Ms Blandthorn said her victory proved voters had connected with her work for school funding and replacing a roundabout in Coburg North, and with the Andrews Government as a whole.
“This was a victory for the Labor Party across the state, people want local action and people want to see that action locally,” she said.
Despite falling short, Cr Yildiz said he was proud to have made a dent in the Labor stronghold.
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