By LUKE VOOGT
A recent survey by the Geelong Indy has revealed that Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons could actually win in this year’s Federal Election – as an Independent.
Out of 38 people across Geelong, 17 people said they would vote for Lyons, with one “not sure”.
“It’s nice to know the people of Geelong feel I’ve done a great job as Mayor of Geelong,” Mayor Lyons said, on 5 April.
The survey asked if people would vote for Darryn Lyons if he ran as an Independent, instead of current Labor MP Richard Marles, in the seat of Corio.
While the 44 percent for Lyons would not be an outright win, it could still mean victory after preferences.
Presumably – if he ran outpolled the Liberal candidate – Liberal Party preferences would come to him before Marles.
The Indy surveyed people in Lara, Newcomb, Corio and West Geelong, with the strongest support for Lyons occurring in Corio (50 percent) and West Geelong (63 percent).
More than half the respondents praised Lyons as Mayor, even if not all would vote for him.
“I think he’s done some awesome stuff for Geelong,” Lara resident Adele Bar said.
“He’s been the only person who’s done anything in the guts of town since I remember when,” Leopold’s Steve Murray said.
Others questioned his ability as a Federal politician, or labelled him as ineffective and self-obsessed.
“He’s great as mayor,” Newcomb’s Paul Cameron said.
“But as a person who has to work on the Legislative Council, he would struggle – he’s an individual and doesn’t like to consult.”
“I just don’t like his show-pony attitude,” Vicki Endrei of Lara said.
“A lot of people say he’s done a lot, but I wander how much of that is actually him.”
The survey – which was not a scientific poll – produced a vastly different result to a poll commissioned by the ALP earlier this week.
The poll had Lyons at 10 percent, Richard Marles at 50 percent and a yet-to be-nominated Liberal Party candidate at 30 percent.
Even if Lyons was to contest and not win, he could still reduce the margin in Corio, which has long been a safe seat.
Mr Lyons said safe seats often missed out and that there had been a lack of funding for the underprivileged parts of Geelong for decades.
“There have been no big ticket Federal items for the whole seat of Corio,” he said.
Mr Lyons said he hoped all parties fielded strong candidates and encouraged other Independents to stand.
However, he was still tight-lipped about whether he would contest the election.
“I haven’t made any decision about my political career at this stage,” he said
“I would want to plan a full commitment to the people of Geelong.”
Two people even said they’d support Darryn Lyons, but only if he ran as an ALP candidate, not an independent.
Several people changed their mind when asked if they would support Darryn Lyons as a Liberal candidate.
The majority of these said they would not support him as Liberal candidate, while some said they would only support him as a Liberal candidate.
Some people said they would wait for Lyons to announce or for the findings of the State Government’s inquiry into Geelong Council before making a decision.
The Indy contacted the office of Richard Marles for comment.
