Victorian State Election 2018: Independent candidates criticise Lizzie Blandthorn, say Labor ignoring Pascoe Vale
A POLITICAL expert says Pascoe Vale will be left behind because of the voters preferences, despite two high profile locals announcing their candidacy for the seat.
North West
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VOTERS in the seat of Pascoe Vale will continue to be left behind unless there is a change to their historical Labor preference, a political expert says.
Moreland Mayor John Kavanagh and councillor Oscar Yildiz have both declared their candidacy for the seat as independents after voicing frustration with the lack of funding and advocacy by the incumbent, Labor’s Lizzie Blandthorn.
But Monash University senior politics lecturer Nick Economou said the cash flow would continue to other areas and not into Pascoe Vale until voters caused the seat to become marginal.
A 17 per cent swing will be required to prise the seat from Labor.
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“The reality is that (political parties) concentrate on where you need to win the votes,” Dr Economou said.
“That’s the rules and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to the voters.”
Cr Kavanagh announced his candidacy last week and said he was frustrated that Ms Blandthorn had been “invisible on major issues”.
He said the lack of support for pools and schools had particularly frustrated him.
Cr Yildiz said Pascoe Vale had been ignored by major parties for too long.
The $27.3 million redevelopment of Oak Park Aquatic Centre was paid entirely out of Moreland Council’s coffers.
Pascoe Vale Primary School fought for years for a major building upgrade and had to rely on a generator for power before being promised $3 million for a masterplan and first stage upgrades earlier this year, while there has been no support from a State Government level for the Give Glenroy a Go campaign.
Ms Blandthorn pointed to the $3.5 million upgrade to the Upfield Bike Path and $3 million for the Coburg City Oval refurbishments as an example of achievements in her time in the job.
“I’ve achieved significant investments in our local schools, public transport and community infrastructure and I promise to do more of the same,” she said.
Cr Kavanagh said public transport would be one of his priorities and he would attempt to abolish Zone 2 travel, which leads to cars parking at stations such as Glenroy to avoid extra charge.
An ambitious “outer rim” railway line to link key lines and the airport is one issue Cr Yildiz plans to raise in his campaign.
Dr Economou said a drastic change would have to be made by voters in the November election to make a difference to the seat, which has only ever been held by Labor.
“Once you have a population of higher than about 20,000 to 30,000, voters generally have no idea who the candidates are, they just look for the party identifiers,” he said.
“If these people are going to run as independent, experience suggests they will be lucky to get three to four per cent (of the vote).”
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