As we head to a federal election tomorrow, early polls suggest Labor’s Libby Coker will retain the seat of Corangamite for a third term.
Online polling site YouGov has Labor retaining the seat in a two-party preferred poll with 57.5 per cent compared to Darcy Dunstan’s Liberals at 42.5 per cent with just a 0.1 percent swing to the Coalition.
Ms Coker leads the site’s primary vote poll with 38.1 per cent while Mr Dunstan is at 30.2 per cent.
The Greens’ Mitch Pope has 14.3 per cent of the primary voting with One Nation’s Colin Seabrook at 5.9 percent and Independent Kate Lockhart at 5 per cent.
The funding pledged to the region by the two major parties is skewed in Labor’s favour, with Ms Coker announcing about $80 million worth of projects in the region compared to Mr Dunstan’s $25 million.
However, the lion’s share of the funding announced by Ms Coker relates to the Barwon Heads Road upgrades, with a successful Labor government spending nearly $70 million for stage two of the project.
Both Labor and the Coalition have pledged $5 million for Ocean Grove’s Devlins Road sports precinct masterplan and $5.45 million for an upgrade to Drysdale Recreation Reserve.
The Libs said they would spend $1.3 million on improved mobile phone coverage for Drysdale and Curlewis, as well as Armstrong Creek.
A Peter Dutton elected government would also allocate $3.5 million for local charity Feed Me Bellarine.
Historically a conservative stronghold, Corangamite was held by the Liberal Party from 1945 to 2007 and again from 2013 to 2019 until Ms Coker ousted Sarah Henderson from the seat.
If Ms Coker manages to see off Mr Dunstan’s challenge she will be the first Labor MP to hold Corangamite for three terms.
Polling places are open between 8am and 6pm on Saturday, May 3. Visit aec.gov.au/voting/ways_to_vote to find your nearest polling place.
