Albo an early favourite as surprising three horse race revealed in Flinders
Early federal election markets have revealed who punters think will triumph on May 21 and the chances of a hung parliament.
South East
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The first betting markets set on the Federal Election since Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit to Yarralumla on Sunday revealed some shock numbers for both of the major parties.
In overall betting, Anthony Albanese remains favourite to become Australia’s next Prime
Minister with Labor rated a $1.44 favourite with Sportsbet, while the Coalition are $2.70.
A hung parliament isn’t being ruled out by punters, with ‘Yes’ at $2.25 and ‘No’ $1.60.
In the seat of Flinders, which won’t be contested by retiring Health Minister Greg Hunt, Sportsbet has it as a coin-flip ($1.87 apiece) between the Liberals’ Zoe McKenzie and the two Independent candidates, Despi O’Connor and Dr Sarah Russell.
Cr O’Connor, a teacher and former Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor, is the endorsed candidate of Simon Holmes à Court’s Climate 200 group while Dr Russell is representing community group Voices of Mornington Peninsula (VMP).
Dr Russell replaced the original candidate Claire Boardman just two months ago after Cr O’Connor had originally sought, and failed to win, the VMP candidacy.
Labor’s Surbhi Snowball is rated just a 10 per cent chance of winning at $10, while the TAB are offering a whopping $15 that the ALP will snatch the seat for the first time since 1984.
It’s a similar story in Goldstein, where high-profile former ABC reporter and ‘Voices’ candidate Zoe Daniel ($2 with the TAB) is nipping at the heels of Liberal incumbent Tim Wilson ($1.75).
The tightest race is predicted for southeastern growth corridor seat La Trobe, held by Jason Wood for the Coalition. The TAB rates the seat a coin-flip, with Wood ($1.90) facing a tough battle against ALP candidate Abi Kumar ($1.90).
The bookies also found it hard to split the two leading contenders in the eastern suburbs’ seat of Deakin, where Michael Sukkar is entering his fourth Federal Election campaign and 10th year as Liberal MP.
However, Sukkar will start the narrowest of favourites ($1.85 with Sportsbet) to retain the seat with lawyer and former teacher Matthew Gregg ($1.87) breathing down his neck for the
ALP.
Casey is also expected to be a tightly contested seat after the retirement of Speaker of the
House Tony Smith late last year.
Local businessman and Liberal candidate Aaron Violi ($1.75 with the TAB) is slightly favoured to defeat Bill Brindle, who ran against Smith in 2019 and requires a swing of almost 10 per cent to win.