PREMIER Daniel Andrews has accused the Liberal Party of failing to take Bendigo seriously as the wait for candidates for Bendigo East and Bendigo West continues.
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Bendigo East is one of a swathe of marginal lower house seats that the Liberal Party would be targeting to have a chance of forming government at the November 24 poll.
At the 2014 election, the Liberals announced candidates for the two seats on March 7. The election was also held in late November that year.
Local party officials have claimed candidates would be announced “shortly” a number of times, including last year, in March and lastly “after Easter”.
Mr Andrews said it sent a “very clear message” to Bendigo voters about the party’s priorities.
“It is perhaps a very clear sign that the Liberal Party don’t take Bendigo that seriously, if only just these few months before the election they don’t even have candidates in place,” he said.
“I was asked earlier on if the Liberal Party are threatening to not run in the inner city of Melbourne - doesn’t look like they’re running in Bendigo either.
“I’ll leave it to the good people of Bendigo to work out who actually cares about Bendigo.”
So far, only the Nationals have announced a candidate for Bendigo East to challenge sitting Labor MP Jacinta Allan, who holds the seat on a margin of 5 per cent.
The Liberals are also yet to announce candidates for seats in Ballarat.
The Liberal Party of Victoria did not reply to a request for comment.