By Liam Mannix
Just getting to a polling booth in Werribee is a challenge.
On a quiet, sunny Saturday afternoon tour of the electorate, The Age repeatedly got stuck on small roads choked with what seemed like peak-hour traffic.
“It’s overpopulated, compared to what it was 30 years ago. I grew up here, there was no one here. Now it takes 35 minutes, 45 minutes to get home,” says Damian Dalbera, summing up the mood of many.
Damian Dalbera and Zandra Aromi at the Iramoo Primary School in Wyndham Vale.Credit: Luis Enrique Acui
On weekdays it is even worse, said Paul Hopper, the highest-profile independent contesting the byelection.
“You can just get gridlocked for 45 minutes to an hour just trying to get eight kilometres through the suburb,” he says.
“It’s the fastest-growing local area in the country. You know it’s coming at you at a 4-5 per cent growth rate. You know the cars are going to be on the roads, there’s going to be pressure on schools and services. So it’s really frustrating the investment hasn’t been put in. We just don’t get that commitment from whoever is in government.”
Werribee has been held by Labor since 1979. Retiring member Tim Pallas, the state’s long-time treasurer, commands a 10.9 per cent margin.
John Lister, Labor Party candidate for Werribee, has a tough needle to thread.Credit: Luis Enrique Acui
But John Lister, Labor’s candidate for its heartland seat of Werribee, found himself on Saturday trying to thread the political needle: admit the suburb faced problems, without accepting responsibility for them.
“It’s roads,” says Lister, when asked for the suburb’s hot-button issue. “I drive on these roads every day, and I see what it’s like. I know we need to do more.”
Gurdeep Singh Bains, Kamaljit Kaur and their two kids epitomise the problems faced by this fast-growing, increasingly multicultural suburb.
Gurdeep Singh Bains and Kamaljit Kaur voted at Iramoo Primary School in Wyndham Vale.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“The mortgage is too high,” says Singh Bains. “We’ve had to cut our money for our kids’ expenses, for our own expenses, cost of living is much higher these days. And in Werribee we need more schools.”
Kaur adds: “We have only one high school for a large number of students. We need more high schools. Safety is, for sure, an issue. Kids safety. More work needs to be done in the newly-built areas.”
“We want change,” says Bains, confirming the pair changed their votes at this election.
Adds Kaur: “the cost of living is going up and up. Especially the interest rates. Let’s see if someone else can help us more.”
The same message comes from Maria Lay. “Living standards are getting worse. Crime is also getting worse – out of control.”
And from Pratik and Shweta Bhatkar. The key issues that swayed their vote are “public safety and crime”, says Pratik.
“The place where we stay we feel the youth crime is increasing. We’re looking for people who can look after the public safety. I need peace of mind.”
Adds Shweta: “Every day is a new thing.”
Pratik nods. “There’s no good news. Every day there’s something crashing. Or some robbery, or some stabbing.”
And from Arvind Kumar: “Law and order is not very good here. Crime rates are increasing, social security is a big issue here, and no one is doing anything. The teenagers, they can do anything and the police don’t do anything.”
The Age spoke to several voters who said they had been lifelong Labor voters and would continue to back the party. But others said they had changed allegiances this year – or were voting tactically.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin handing out how-to-vote cards at Manor Lakes Primary School.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“I’m normally a Labor voter, and I did not vote Labor this time, based on the fact I did not feel they’d been doing much out here for the last 10 years,” says Brooke Thies, who voted for independent candidate Paul Hopper. “So maybe if my vote goes elsewhere, even if they still get in, it might give them the kick in the pants to start doing what needs to be done out here: crime, roads.
“They are almost too comfortable in this area – they know it’s almost a guaranteed Labor seat. And that’s why I’m thinking if I vote elsewhere, and they can see that, it may give them … that kick in the pants to know people are swaying away from them.”
The Liberals, and candidate Steve Murphy, are hoping to channel the suburb’s worries and anger – although the party accepts that overcoming an 11 per cent margin might be too hard in a single byelection.
“It’s always difficult, an 11 per cent margin,” Liberal leader Brad Battin told The Age on Saturday afternoon outside a polling booth (both parties have sent swathes of ministers to campaign on the front lines). “The last time the Liberals won a byelection off Labor in the lower house is 1948 – so history is not on my side.”
“Sometimes it just happens and all a sudden it starts to move. Will it happen today? It might start the momentum. But all a sudden you get the state getting the permission to vote and move on.”
Murphy is focused solely on local issues.
Independent candidate Paul Hopper.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“In the mornings, from here, it’s taking them from 40 minutes to an hour to actually get onto the freeway to get to work. In the evenings it’s the same. It’s absolutely neglect, from years and years of Labor.
“Traffic, lack of infrastructure, cost of living. People are hurting. And the crime, as an ex-policeman, it is just about on everyone’s lips. People are not feeling safe in their community. Three murders here in the last two weeks.”
If the contest is tight on Saturday night, much might come down to preference flows from Hopper. Adding intrigue, Hopper has not been directing his supporters on whom to preference.
“There’s definitely a mood for change, around the main booths. The locals are pretty fed up by the inaction of the current government,” he says. “It is really being fought on local issues. Local roads. People are at their wits’ end.”
With Adam Carey
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