By Eleanor Wilson
“I’d rather stick with the devil I know than the one that I don’t,” said Narre Warren resident Meredith Dale as she stood outside a pre-poll centre at Akoonah Park in Berwick.
A chilly November day didn’t stop Meredith, nor 2000 local pre-poll voters, from doing their due diligence for democracy on Thursday 17 November.
Liberal candidate and favourite to win the district, Brad Battin, has been at Akoonah Park morning and night handing out how-to-vote cards, along with other candidates and eager campaign volunteers.
He said he was quietly confident heading into the final week of campaigning before election day on Saturday 26 November.
“There’s still a bit to go. But I think overall we’re in the middle of Liberal heartland. So I’ll take that whilst we’re here,” Battin said.
“Of course anything can happen on the day, but if we keep the [pre-poll numbers] coming through, we’ll have over 50 per cent of the votes by election day. “
As of Thursday 17 November, the Berwick District had received over 6800 pre-poll votes, in addition to 7661 local constituents who had their say by postal vote.
Battin said roads had been a dominant issue occupying locals’ minds.
“I’m surprised at how many people have mentioned potholes. I knew it was an issue but I didn’t realise how much of an issue it was,” he said.
Young voter Madison Bank agreed roads in the area need to be addressed, but said it was her family’s voting habits that influenced her decision to vote Liberal.
“I’m a bit younger so i think I’m still figuring out where I lie,” she said.
Many voters said they felt disillusioned by the election, with one remarking “I‘ve spent long enough on this planet to know they promise the world and give you nothing”.
But just as many shared a resolute determination to ‘can Dan’.
Voter David Mitchell said he has voted for Labor in the past, but that won’t be the case this time around.
“I reckon Labor is corrupt. There’s been too many examples, too many IBAC inquiries. I don’t think they’ve been honest and I think where there’s smoke there’s fire,” he said.
“I think with what we’ve gone through with Covid over the last couple of years and examples like that, we need a change. We need a change, he’s been there too long.”
Wife Angela said she too was voting against Mr Andrews, rather than in favour of a particular party or policy.
For her, seeing her elderly mother wait for 24 hours in a local emergency department following a bad fall at home, was the decider.
“The health system is ridiculous here in Victoria. That is one of the main things I’m really not happy about.”
Local voter Lisa said she took no issue with the Labor Party, but said Mr Andrews was running the state “like a dictatorship”.
“The Labor Party is no longer the Labor Party” for Trevor, who said he often voted Labor in his youth. He too wants Mr Andrews gone.
But perhaps the most ardent opposers of the Andrews Labor Government were volunteers campaigning on behalf of the Freedom Party of Victoria.
“Vote for your local nurse and get us nurses back to work. We are desperate to get back to work.” was the message from two Freedom Party volunteers, who, along with candidate Kerry Haupt, worked as registered nurses and midwives until November last year, when they were stood down for not complying with vaccine mandates imposed by the Andrews Government.
“Dan Andrews isn’t delivering and that is why I’m standing here today. I’ve never done this in my life before, but we felt like we had to,” one of the volunteers said.
“We’re not political people, we’re nurses. We don’t get involved, we don’t do this usually.
“Mandates are still effective within the health care system and there are thousands of us nurses who are unemployed right now.”
Labor candidate Malik Zaveer, who has also been trying to gain constituent’s votes in person at Akoonah Park, said he is hopeful he will be triumphant at the election.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed, you have to be in it to win it,” he said.
“I am hopeful, but at the end of the day, its all in the voters hands. They decide who’s the best candidate or the best government to run the state. But I think Labor has done quite well.”
