Sporting infrastructure – described by locals as “deplorable” – unemployment and drugs are also key issues ahead of the July federal poll.

But mayor Christine Henderson said debate around negative gearing would particularly resonate in the Goldfields town.

“The mismatch between city and country housing prices is having a bad effect on our local young people and those on the pension,” Cr Henderson said.

“There’s quite a lot of pressure on rental accommodation.

“Younger people and those on lower-incomes are being priced out – to a certain extent – by people coming from the city, cashing in on a huge mortgage on their inner-city Melbourne home and buying what used to me a modest house in Castlemaine, doing it up and still having money left over to add to their super.”

The Mount Alexander Shire mayor said negative gearing was disliked by many in her part of the electorate because of housing security concerns.

“On the other hand you have people who have a weekender house here or who’ve invested in their second, third or even 10th home who think it’s a very good idea,” she said.

However, many of the “tree-changers” are as concerned about the housing squeeze as the multi-generation locals.

Grace McCaughey and her husband moved to central Victoria 17 years ago from Hawthorne, settling in Casltemaine a decade ago.

She said there used to be “a bit of aggro” from locals towards new comers. But tree-changers were now being seen as part of the solution.

“They’ve have brought a number of things with them, notably money, but also expertise – people have come up here with all sorts of wonderful skills,” Ms McCaughey said. 

The 80-year-old from Northern Ireland, a volunteer at the Hub Plot community garden, pointed to a proliferation in grass roots programs aimed at addressing all sorts of social issues.

The Mount Alexander Community Land Ltd project, aimed to tackle the issue head-on by securing affordable housing for lower-income families.

Others were stimulating the local economy and addressing environmental issues: MASH, a community solar bulk-buy scheme has installed more than 470 solar PV rooftops since 2014, and “slow money” initiatives were emerging to give low-interest loans to local enterprise.

“There’s a revolution happening around the world, in America, in Europe and in the UK, and it’s happening here in Australia too but it is underground,” she said.

“Castlemaine is at the centre of a lot of that.”

Fair go, sport

They say swing seats get the goodies when politicians start throwing money around – which might go some way towards explaining Castlemaine’s “deplorable” lack of sporting infrastructure.

So reckons Robin Taylor, a fourth-generation local business man, former councillor and head of progress association Castlemaine Action Inc.

“Sporting facilities in this shire are a bloody disgrace to be honest,” Mr Taylor said.

“There are only only two basketball courts in the whole shire that are owned by the community... two.

“And at the Wesley Hill complex – where they've got football, netball, cricket, basketball and cycling facilities, and more, all in one complex – the changing shed is literally a tin shed.

“The amount of people who use that… they could spend $10 million up there and it wouldn’t be enough.”

Mr Taylor said council had been making plans for an upgrade to the complex for more than 10 years, but had never secured the money to follow through.

Mayor Christine Henderson is the latest lead councillor hoping a federal election year could see Canberra finally get on board the Wesley Hill upgrade.

However, the mayor said the community – with a high proportion of elderly residents – was also in desperate need of an exercise facility for all ages.

“Not many people can jog into their 50s and 60s, but swimming is a life-long form of exercise,” Cr Henderson said.

But she said an out-of-date pool was leaking hundreds-of-thousands of dollars every year from council coffers.

“Our current pool is on its very last legs – it’s about 70-years-old – we managed to get it up and running last season but at a cost of almost $100,000 to prevent leaks, maintenance, etc.,” she said

“We’d love both federal and state funding for a new aquatic centre – the current pool is beautiful on a summer day but doesn’t get used for the other nine months of the year.

“Whereas ff we had a new, heated pool, we could have older residents doing hydro-therapy and people swimming laps year round.”

Those who argue for more funding for sporting facilities say it would not only improve community health, but help tackle a raft of social issues.

Muckleford-man David Rynn was recently selected to represent Australia at the blackball pool world championship in Ireland later this year.

He is currently taking a hiatus from his community radio show on local pool, billiards, darts, table tennis and other indoor sports – but is continuing to push for a purpose-built indoor sport facilities.

The machine operator at meat processing plant Don KR – the town’s major employer – said that under liquor licensing laws people younger than 18 couldn’t participate in the pool competition. 

“So there should be a purpose-built youth facility which would give young people things to do, so they’re not out on the streets at night smashing things up,” Mr Rynn said.

“That’s why they do it – they’re bored.

“The government should be looking at town’s like Castlemaine, in-and-around the 10,000 population mark, and giving young people things to do.”

He said the lack of sporting facilities was feeding into other social problems which disproportionately affected young people.

“Unemployment is a big issue,” Mr Rynn said.

“Locally, the major issues are a lack of housing and a big drug problem coming up from Melbourne.”

While Mr Rynn said those who were struggling with lack of work and affordable housing would be foremost on his mind when he went to the polls this year, others said their vote would be determined by different forms of inequality. 

Bronwyn Peterson works at one of several of organic stores in Castlemaine. When asked what would determine her vote at the federal election, her response was as instant as it was succinct.

“The plebiscite,” Ms Peterson said. 

“I’m in same-sex relationship and we have a child – we feel like second-class citizens.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has committed to the Abbott government’s proposed plebiscite on same-sex marriage, should the Liberal’s win the July election.

Critics have said the plan in an unnecessary waste of potentially more than $500 million of taxpayers money.

But Ms Peterson was most concerned about hate speech which she said would likely accompany a referendum on the same-sex marriage.

“In Ireland people were copping terrible abuse when they did it,” she said. “And that isn’t necessary in this country, which I don’t see as hugely interested in religion anyway.

“So I don’t understand why the government would go down that path, other than that they are listening to Christian lobby groups who push archaic and discriminatory laws.”

Her colleague, Theresa Bodno named cuts to front-line mental health services as a major concern ahead of the July poll.

It is, perhaps, support for progressive views such these which have seen a surge in support for the Greens over the last decade.

That party went from a primary vote of 15 per cent at the Castlemaine polling booth in the 2004 federal election to 24 per cent in both the 2010 and 2013 elections.

But resident cynics might argue the demographics of the traditionally blue-collar voting block needs even more of a shake-up before the town is marginal enough for its wish-list to get the look in it deserves.

The Castlemaine vote over the last four federal elections

The division of Bendigo has been Labor held since 1998 – the following table charts results from the Castlemaine polling station over the last four elections.