Backroom Baz: Poll pundits tip Adem Somyurek to make upper house return
Election experts predict Adem Somyurek will make a barnstorming return to parliament, but it could cause a high-profile casualty.
State Election
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There might be lots of counting left to go, but more than one election expert are now tipping Adem Somyurek will return to parliament with the Democratic Labour Party.
Party leader Bernie Finn looks set to miss out, meaning Somyurek will rule the roost for the DLP in the upper house, with at least one other DLP candidate looking likely to win a spot.
If Somyurek does make it through, he will push out popular MP Fiona Patten of the Reason Party who has sat in parliament since 2014.
Which poses the question, what is next in Patten’s Age of Reason?
When she looked to have missed a spot at the 2018 election, Daniel Andrews offered her a job. Will he again?
Or is there some truth to the rumours that Patten could deflect to the Legalise Cannabis Party which is set to win anywhere from one to three seats?
Drug reform has been a major plank of Patten’s platform.
In March she introduced a Bill to decriminalise all illicit drugs in Victoria.
It was defeated.
But a Parliamentary Budget Office costing found the move would save Victorian taxpayers $130m over the next decade.
Freedom killed off
A website dishing the dirt on the murky affairs inside the Victorian Liberal Party seems to have been killed off.
Real Freedom News was operated by anonymous sources, though most within the party suspected who was behind the savage gossip column.
A report on outgoing state director Sam McQuestin sparked fury within some party ranks, with suggestions of legal action over the claims it peddled.
Baz will be watching this space to see if the site makes a return appearance.
A well deserved honeymoon
With the election out of the way Baz wonders if Nationals leader Peter Walsh will get a chance to finally go on his honeymoon. Yes, honeymoon!
The member for Murray Plains got quietly married at the end of August, attracting a small amount of attention in regional press but word took its time reaching Spring St.
Hardly surprising given that shortly after the happy affair the Queen died, regional Victoria was smashed by floods, and the state election campaign got well and truly underway.
Baz reckons Walshy deserves an extra long break, given the success of the Nats who have regained party status after a stellar campaign and election result.
To Peter, and new wife Liz, Baz sends a hearty congratulations. All the best.
Still watching over us
New Australians being welcomed at a citizenship ceremony last week may have been surprised to see Queen Elizabeth II seemingly resurrected.
Alongside an Australia flag stood a lifeside banner of Her Majesty, keeping a close watch over proceedings.
Baz wonders why those at Manningham Council are yet to replace the banner with one of King Charles, given it’s been almost three months since he took the throne.
A good deed in a weary world
It may have been a disaster election for the Liberal Party, but among a dark day were some positive stories.
Like this one, from a South Yarra polling booth on election day, when Victorian Electoral Commission volunteers were on the hunt to find a kind hearted person to drive an elderly and disabled voter home.
Baz is told only one person, the wife of Liberal candidate Matt Lucas, offered any assistance and helped the man make his way home after fulfilling his democratic duty.
There are some good people around.
Chatting to Spring St
Chatty man Alan Carr brought a bit of glam to an otherwise dull Spring St.
Carr was in town ever so briefly touring his new show Regional Trinket, and was spotted at the Windsor Hotel shortly before the performance.
Not much happens on Spring St without Baz noticing.
Guess who
Which Liberal staffer was chosen to be the chief of staff to a potential Premier Matthew Guy in some optimistic planning just days out from the election?
Top scientist to drive state’s clean energy push
The Victorian government has revealed its expert panel appointed to resurrect the state electricity commission months after the election.
Liberals win last seat in Victorian election
The Liberal Party has finally claimed the electorate of Narracan two months after the state election, bringing the Coalition to one more seat than it held after 2018.