THE Liberal-Nationals Coalition have made a strong pitch to retain the seat of Euroa at Saturday’s state election despite the retirement of popular incumbent Steph Ryan.
The Nationals member elected not to recontest the seat after two terms, the Liberals and Nationals have each run candidates – Brad Hearn and Annabelle Cleeland respectively.
Other candidates vying to represent the electorate are Labor’s Angela Tough, the Animal Justice Party’s Elaine Haddock, the Greens’ James Bennett, Family First Victoria’s Paul Bachelor and Freedom Party of Victoria’s Raymond Rowbotham.
The Coalition candidates have delivered several pledges, including $300 million for the Kilmore bypass, $8 million for Broadford Secondary College, $6.1 million for Seymour College and $1.4 million for Kilmore’s Special Emergency Service, SES, unit.
But with Labor heavily favoured to win the election, a successful Coalition candidate could find themselves in the same situation as Ms Ryan for the past eight years – an opposition member.
Labor announced $30 million for a planned roundabout at the intersection of the Northern Highway and Wandong Road south of Kilmore – the first step towards a bypass – but did not match the Coalition’s $300 million pledge to build the road.
The government is also yet to match the pledges for Broadford Secondary College and Seymour College, although Ms Tough recently announced $13.7 million for Broadford Primary School if Labor retained government.
Ms Tough also upped the ante on the Coalition’s pledge to the Kilmore SES, promising $6 million to completely rebuild the unit’s headquarters, rather than the $1.4 million the Coalition allocated to refurbish and add to it.
Chief ABC election analyst Antony Green has tipped the Nationals to hold the seat comfortably, noting that while Euroa was only introduced as an electorate in 2014, it largely replaced the defunct seat of Benalla, which was held continuously by non-Labor parties from its creation in 1904 until a shock by-election win by Labor’s Denise Allen in 2000.
Since Ms Allen was ousted in 2002, Benalla and Euroa have been won by Nationals candidates with double-digit margins at each election.
