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AT A GLANCE
- Bendigo: Seat called for Lisa Chesters ALP
- Murray: Seat called for Damian Drum NP
- McEwen: Seat called for Rob Mitchell ALP
- Mallee: Seat called for Andrew Broad NP
- Wannon: Seat called for Dan Tehan LP
ROLLING COVERAGE
UPDATE 12pm: Re-elected Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters has thanked the Bendigo community for returning her as the local MP.
She has also doubted the Coalition’s ability to form stable government, as the country continues to wait on the shape of the new parliament.
Click here to read more.
SUNDAY10.15am: The big booths in Bendigo turned out heavily for Labor, including Golden Square, Eaglehawk, Kangaroo Flat and Castlemaine
Click here to read our analysis our where the seat was won and lost.
The Greens picked up their first booth – Guildford – while the Rise Up Australia vote increased 1.6 per cent in Bendigo.
Read about how the minor parties fared here.
UPDATE 12.40am: And that’s a wrap from us tonight – or this morning!
Stick with us when the sun comes up for more coverage of central Victorian seats and the national tally.
Reporter Adam Holmes will be back on deck from 9am.
UPDATE 12.35am: Mr Turnbull says he has spoken to the Australian Electoral Commission which tells him he will be able to form a majority Coalition government.
The count will continue until 2am but then there will be no counting until Tuesday (he does not say why).
"The Labor Party ran some of the most systematic, well-funded lies ever peddled in Australia," he says.
"The mass ranks of the union movement and all of their millions of dollars, telling vulnerable Australians that Medicare was going to be privatised or sold (sic)," he says.
"There were text messages being sent to thousands of people across Australia saying that Medicare was about to be privatised by the Liberal Party.... It said it came from Medicare. An extraordinary act of dishonesty. No doubt the police will investigate."
"The circumstances of Australia cannot be changed by a lying campaign from the Labor Party," Mr Turnbull says.
"No politician can give a speech, can write a policy, can send a message and change the reality of the circumstances in which we live and the policies that will enable us to meet those times with success."
"Labor with the second lowest primary vote in its history, but Labor would say that the answer is more debt, more deficit and higher taxes. Seriously. Seriously," Mr Turnbull says.
"So, my friends, I'm sure that as the results are refined and come in over the next few days with all of the counting, we will be able to form that majority government. But, let me say this without any fear of contradiction. The Labor Party has no capacity in this parliament to form a stable majority government. That is a fact."
"I want to also address a matter that I know has been raised earlier today or this evening about the calling of the double-dissolution election. Let me remind everybody of why that occurred. That was not a political tactic. It was not designed to
remove senators or get a new Senate because new senators are better than old senators or whatever. It was simply this. We need to restore the rule of law to the construction industry."
"I am confident that we will be able to form a majority government."
UPDATE 12.22am: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is live from the Sofitel hotel.
UPDATE 12.20am: While we wait for Mr Turnbull......
Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos has seemingly suggested another election could be necessary if the government has been denied a mandate and Labor frustrates their agenda.
"That was a very negative speech," Senator Sinodinos said after Labor leader Bill Shorten's election night address.
"What comes out of that speech is he's saying the government has lost its mandate. [Mr Shorten] doesn't have a mandate for anything. So what is this outcome then? This is the problem. Where is the country? There is no plan. There is no Labor plan. A Labor plan has not been endorsed today. This is the trouble the country faces in effect at some stage we will have to rerun this because no-one has a mandate for anything."
When asked if he meant a re-run of the election, Senator Sinodinos said, "If Bill Shorten is saying....that he will be frustrating everything the government wants to do. He wants to cut the government down."
"That is what he is saying. He's saying I've got them on the run, I'm going to cut them down. For what? Is he endorsed on a scare campaign. Is this what this great country has been reduced to?"
UPDATE 12.15am: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has arrived at the Sofitel hotel.
Watch his address live here.
UPDATE 11.50pm: Malcolm Turnbull is leaving his house in Point Piper for the Sofitel hotel.
His expression was, to put it mildly, stressed.
We will have live coverage of his address here.
UPDATE 11.45pm: "We are the party for people who love each other," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has said when addressing the nation this evening.
"We are the party that includes every citizen of the great Australian aspiration for the fair go all round. And we are the party for the people whose voices all too often go unheard. And I, in particular tonight, I say to all those Australians who feel marginalised and forgotten, alienated and excluded, and to all those Australians who feel that politics as usual simply doesn't work for them - Labor will not leave you behind. We will not let you down."
"It is time for our Parliament to get back to work....We stand by our program, our mandate.”
"We will save Medicare," he said to shouts of "Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill".
He thanked Tanya Plibersek for being "all class and all heart" as well as Penny Wong, Stephen Conroy and "the mighty trade union movement".
"Chloe - wherever you went in this campaign you brought the sunshine with you," Mr Shorten said to his wife. He also thanked his three children Rupert, Georgette and Clementine.
He finishes: "Friends, we are the party for all those who serve. All who strive. All who care for one another. All who make our country what it is. Your futures and your opportunities. This will always be our mission. Together there is nothing we can't achieve. Together we will build a better country for all Australians. Thank you very much for your support and hard work."
UPDATE 11.34pm: WATCH IT LIVE: Bill Shorten's election night address to the nation:
"Friends, we will not know the outcome of this outcome tonight. we may not know it for days to come," Mr Shorten says.
"But one thing is for sure - the Labor Party is back."
The party has united and "run a magnificent campaign", Mr Shorten says.
"Three years after they came to power the Liberals have lost their mandate."
"Mr Turnbull's economic program, such as it was, has been rejected by the people of Australia," Mr Shorten says.
The Labor Party is "re-energised, it is unified and it is more determined than ever".
UPDATE 11.30pm: Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is addressing the nation. Watch it live here.
Mr Shorten is being introduced by frontbencher Brendan O'Connor: "We will go to bed knowing Malcolm Turnbull has failed miserably."
UPDATE 11pm: The longer the night goes on the worse things get for Malcolm Turnbull.
As The Age's political editor Michael Gordon writes: "Malcolm Turnbull is facing the prospect of the worst kind of win, where the Coalition is returned with the most seats, but his authority is weakened, his internal critics are emboldened and his agenda is imperilled."
"Turnbull's warning that a protest vote would produce the chaos of a hung parliament has not deterred voters around the country from acting on their disappointment in what the Coalition has delivered since 2013," he writes.
"He wanted the numbers to deliver strong, stable government and banked all on his economic plan built on company tax cuts. The best he can hope for is a wafer-thin majority and a toxic Senate: a recipe for instability if ever there was one."
UPDATE 10.45pm: Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is expected to address media soon.
UPDATE 10.30pm: Making headlines nationally:
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has thanked Johnny Depp for the publicity which he says helped his campaign.
Tony Abbott says although there was a swing against him he is happy to be returned as the member for Warringah: "It's not surprising you lose a few votes here, a few votes there."
Greens' leader Richard Di Natale says it has been a great result for his party.
He says the party is in the running for two lower house seats - Melbourne and either Batman or Melbourne Ports - as well as an extra Senate seat in Queensland.
"We'll be a very, very important player in the Senate," he say.
He repeats his position that the Greens would not form a minority government with the Coalition but would enter a "constructive negotiation" with the Labor Party.
Pauline Hanson says she is "very confident" of getting into the Senate. She thinks another One Nation person will be successful in Queensland and possible one more in NSW and in Tasmania.
"We've polled really well, I think, and on the ground support is very strong," Ms Hanson says.
- The Age
UPDATE 10.15pm: Lisa Chesters has proclaimed her victory as "20 years of Labor in Bendigo" after claiming victory in the seat at 7.50pm.
With almost all booths counted, and only pre-poll to come, she had achieved a two-party preferred result of 53.3 per cent - a swing of 2 per cent.
Her primary vote was 38.5 per cent, a swing of 1.4.
In her victory speech, Ms Chesters paid tribute to Labor volunteers - particularly those in southern towns - for ensuring another victory.
"I can genuinely stand here now and say I am proud to be an Australia, but more importantly to be from Bendigo and be the federal member for Bendigo," she said to the gathered crowd at Trades Hall.
"We are in a room of Labor people, volunteers who year in year out put on the red and say we are proud to be Labor.
"Tonight we celebrate not just winning the seat of Bendigo, but for 20 years this year we have held the Bendigo electorate. From the moment you hit Kyneton all the way up to Elmore, for 20 years there has not been a Liberal hold a seat in our part of the world."
The seat was predicted to be a close race, but the consistent swing to Labor meant victory was rarely in doubt for Ms Chesters after counting began.
The ongoing CFA dispute did not appear to have affected the final vote.
Ms Chesters said the issue had always played along political lines.
"Scott Morrison tonight at 6pm was saying that Bendigo was at risk because of the CFA issue. How wrong was he?" she said.
"We know that the only people handing out for the CFA today were members of the Liberal Party, who have never in their lives put on a CFA uniform.
"We know that, because members of the CFA are here tonight. The CFA has always reflected our community, and refuses and stands up to say, we will not be a poltiical tool for the Liberal Party."
Liberal candidate Megan Purcell is expected to address the media on Sunday.
UPDATE 10.05pm: In the Mallee, returning Member Andrew Broad is having a great 41st birthday.
“We look like we have won every polling booth that’s come in,’’ he said.
Mr Broad said people throughout the electorate, including the Wimmera, had approached him with ideas that had eventually become policy.
He said the idea for better diabetes monitoring, national intervention orders, working visas for refugees, a Longerenong College accommodation upgrade, and the new oncology centre came from face-to-face meetings with constituents.
“That’s harnessing the ideas of people from Wimmera-Mallee and pushing them up to the national level,” he said.
“I don’t ever claim to be the epitome of knowledge, but I do know the people of Mallee are fantastic and we can harness their ideas.”
As for his thoughts on the national result?
“I haven’t had enough time to sit and watch it,’’ he said.
“I’ve done a lot of other things like give my six-year-old a shower and putting her to bed, as well as having a big party at my place.”
UPDATE 10pm: Nationally, Labor is in danger of losing two of its traditional strongholds in Bill Shorten's home state, where the rise of the Greens and a bitter stoush over the CFA could help Malcolm Turnbull return to government in his own right.
By 9pm on Saturday, Labor had a swing of 3.12 per cent nationally, but in Victoria – where Labor hardheads were hopeful of some gains – the swing towards the party was only 1.8 per cent. Read more here.
UPDATE 9.30pm: The 2016 federal election appears to be inching towards a hung Parliament. So what does that mean?
To gain the majority needed to form government, one of the major parties needs 76 seats in the House of Representatives, or the Lower House, which has 150 seats in total.
If neither of the major parties, the Australian Labor Party or the Liberal-National Coalition, reaches that magic number, the result is a hung Parliament. This is rare in Australian federal elections but quite common among states and also in other countries. Read more here.
UPDATE 9.20pm: Another cross to our colleagues at The Age and three hours in they are reporting the consensus is edging towards the Coalition being returned to government with a slim majority or a hung parliament (money seems firmer on the former).
The Coalition hard heads are starting to talk about what went wrong.
Peta Credlin and Michael Kroger both say superannuation went very badly for their voters. Mr Kroger says people did not like the policy and it cost the party not only votes but donations.
Ms Credlin blames Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer, who is responsible for super, for being invisible during the campaign.
UPDATE 9pm: Reporter Adam Holmes is live as Lisa Chesters makes her official victory speech for the seat of Bendigo:
UPDATE 8.59pm: Checking back in with our Melbourne colleagues and The Age is reporting Labor commentator Graham Richardson is tipping a narrow government win, but says a hung Parliament is still in play.
Moreover, he predicted the closer-than-expected result will heap pressure on Malcolm Turnbull, who could face down the track a leadership challenge from someone like Scott Morrison.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says in the event of a hung Parliament he would not enter any agreement with either Labor or the Coalition to form government, but would consider any individual bill on its measures.
Mr Wilkie has picked up a sizeable swing toward him in his Tasmanian seat of Denison.
UPDATE 8.55pm: Back to the tally room, ALP Lisa Chesters is sitting on more than 20,000 votes while Liberal Megan Purcell is on 18,919 votes in Bendigo.
The Greens’ Rosemary Glaisher is on 6219, followed by The Nationals’ Andy Maddison on 1730 votes.
More than 54,000 votes have been counted with eight polling places to go – including Epsom, Huntly and Woodend.
UPDATE 8.40pm: The atmosphere is still upbeat in the Bendigo Liberals camp.
Candidate Megan Purcell will speak later in evening but for now she is concentrating on enjoying the night with her supporters.
We will cross live to Lisa Chesters shortly.
UPDATE 8.30pm: Lisa Chesters says she is humbled to have been able to hold the seat in Bendigo.
“I’m really excited, really humble that the people here in the Bendigo electorate, from Macedon to Elmore, have said, ‘Yes Lisa we would like you and Labor to continue to be the representative here in Bendigo’,” she said when claiming victory just after 8pm.
“It’s a pretty exciting night, we’re still in this federally but I’m really proud to be able to say that here in Bendigo we’ve been able to hold the seat.”
Support for the Labor member has been flowing in on social media:
UPDATE 8.10pm: From our Melbourne colleagues, two hours in and where are we nationally?
Victorian Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger (he has a good track record of calling elections) says Labor cannot win government in its own right: "19 seats are just not there."
He points out that although there might be a move towards Labor in NSW there is not in Victoria and Queensland.
"Thanks Dan Andrews," as Jeff Kennett puts it.
At this point in proceedings in 2013 the election had been called for the Coalition.
Tonight, it's a much closer call.
Deputy Barnaby Joyce has won New England and, despite a 10 per cent swing against him, Tony Abbott has held Warringah.
- The Age
UPDATE 8pm: Reporter Adam Holmes is live with Labor’s Lisa Chesters as she claims victory in Bendigo:
UPDATE 7.51pm: ABC has called Bendigo for Labor.
Lisa Chesters is currently on 10,356 votes, while Liberal Megan Purcell is on 9962 votes.
UPDATE 7.45pm: Back to Bendigo – Labor’s Lisa Chesters is still in front with 27 of 61 polling places returned.
Liberal Megan Purcell is sitting on 7927 votes, 209 behind Labor, and The Greens’ Rosemary Glaisher is on 2484 votes.
Votes from Axedale, Castlemaine, central Bendigo, Eaglehawk and Heathcote are among the 34 polling places still to come.
UPDATE 7.40pm: National Damian Drum leads Murray on 5744 votes. More than 16,000 votes have been counted and Liberal Duncan McGauchie is on 4375 votes.
In McEwen, votes from 24 polling places have been counted, with 6112 going to Labor’s Rob Mitchell. Liberal Chris Jermyn is on 5244.
UPDATE 7.23pm: You can almost lock in Wannon for the Liberals and Mallee for the Nationals already.
Liberal Dan Tehan holds a strong lead with significant votes counted, while National Andrew Broad is more or less unopposed in Mallee.
UPDATE 7.15pm: Lisa Chesters holds a 150 vote lead after seven booths returned: Big Hill, California Gully, Eppalock, Goornong, Tarnagulla, Winters Flat and Woodvale.
Mostly rural areas, but some – such as Winters Flat and California Gully – usually vote heavily for Labor. Still the big booths to come.
UPDATE 6.50pm: And votes have started coming in. Currently Lisa Chesters and Megan Purcell are both sitting on 59 votes in Bendigo.
UPDATE 6.45pm: Bendigo Addy reporter Adam Holmes is live from St Andrews Church in Bendigo:
UPDATE 6.40pm: Counting will begin soon at St Andrews Church in Bendigo. We’ll cross live to reporter Adam Holmes shortly on our Facebook page.
UPDATE 6.30pm: While we wait for the first votes to be counted, Fairfax political correspondents James Massola and Mark Kenny discuss the early exit polls and give their prediction for the outcome of the election:
UPDATE 6pm: And that’s it! Voting has closed in Victoria.
UPDATE 5.50pm: Labor candidate and current member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters and Liberal candidate Megan Purcell have both finished their campaigning in Kangaroo Flat.
But as the sun quickly set, the number of voters dried up and they packed away just before 6pm.
Both were excited to see the results of their hard work flow in, with counting to start in the coming half an hour.
Ten minutes until voting closes.
UPDATE 5.45pm: See who our photographers caught up with while out and about at polling booths today – click here for the photo gallery.
UPDATE 5.30pm: Not long to go now – polls close in 30 minutes. Have you voted yet? Find out where you can vote here.
UPDATE 5.15pm: For our Mallee readers, did you know it’s Andrew Broad’s birthday today?
The current Member for Mallee and Nationals candidate has paid a flying visit to the Wimmera today while Labor candidate Lydia Senior and Greens candidate Helen Healy concentrated their election day efforts in the northern half of the seat.
UPDATE 5pm: How do you eat a sausage in bread? Opposition Leader Bill Shorten caused a stir today when he bit into a sausage sizzle...from the side:
UPDATE 4.30pm: From our Melbourne colleagues, both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have cast their votes.
The prime minister cast his vote at Double Bay, in his electorate of Wentworth.
As Mr Turnbull and his wife Lucy arrived, he told reporters that Australian democracy was incomplete without the smell of snags. But apparently he left without eating a snag - and without risking a photo of a tomato sauce wardrobe malfunction.
Labor leader Bill Shorten voted in Melbourne just after 4pm. He got some special treatment.
Mr Shorten says he voted for "the best candidate". No prizes for guessing who that was.
- The Age
UPDATE 4pm: Still need to vote? You’ve got until 6pm – click here to find a polling booth in your area.
The #democracysausage has been getting plenty of love of social media today. Have you found a polling booth with a snag or cake stall?
UPDATE 3.45pm:
An anonymous protester, a rehabilitated meth addict, an elderly anti-same-sex marriage advocate and two young adults with no idea at all – the faces leaving St Andrews church on Myers Street were many and varied.
The polling booth is one of the busiest in Bendigo and the voters who made their way through the doors could play their part in the outcome in the electorate.
Sitting on the front step was a sole anonymous protester, complete with Guy Fawkes mask and a poster with a Russell Brand quote.
She had sat there all day.
“Last time I was getting sunburnt, this time it’s a little too chilly,” the protester, who only wanted to be known as “anonymous” said.
“I’m here because something needs to change, but voting is never going to do it.
“All of the politicians are lining their own pockets. There’s never enough funding for hospital beds or schools.”
The protester wasn’t the only one with a vocal opinion about voting.
Bendigo voter Robbie had escaped a life addicted to methamphetamine, and was disappointed at a lack of focus on supporting those addicted to drugs.
He said the problem is worse than ever, but the support just isn’t there.
“Meth is messed up in this town,” Robbie said.
“Much more needs to be done about it, to control it. We definitely need more rehab options. Addicts don’t get the help they need, we have detox places here but we need more support.
“Homelessness is a big issue too, I met a bloke sleeping in front of the Reject Shop the other day. There was nowhere for him to go, no homeless shelters.”
Following right behind Robbie was Betty, who had voted in yet another election – this time it took her half an hour to make up her mind.
The number one issue for her was opposing same-sex marriage, pushing her to vote for Family First.
“He had good points,” Betty said.
“Another issue is jobs, my grandson didn’t have a job three years ago and he still doesn’t. Lisa Chesters promised jobs, but there just aren’t any.”
For every informed voter, there are others only there to avoid getting a fine.
That was the case for two young adults leaving the church.
“I think I voted for the animal one,” one of them said.
“There’s just too many parties, they need to tell us what they actually mean,” the other said.
But both agreed – educating young people about the democratic process needs to improve.
“They need to teach us this stuff in school. How to vote and how to do your taxes, we need to know this stuff,” one said.
- Adam Holmes
UPDATE 2pm:
Here are a few observations from voters on social media in central Victoria:
Food has proved to be a popular topic:
UPDATE 1.50pm:
At least three of the candidates for Bendigo have now cast their votes.
Greens candidate Rosemary Glaisher voted early this morning at St Andrew’s Uniting Church.
Incumbent MP and Labor candidate Lisa Chesters cast her vote at Epsom Primary School, as she did last election.
Meanwhile Liberal candidate Megan Purcell voted early in the afternoon at Strathfieldsaye Sports Club.
Both Ms Chesters and Ms Purcell said there was a positive, respectful atmosphere among voters in the electorate both today and in the lead up to the election.
“It’s just nice that everyone’s been very polite and even if they disagree they’re very respectful, and that’s fantastic,” Ms Purcell said.
Ms Purcell and Ms Chesters also said they felt good going into election day, with the hard work of the eight-week campaign behind them.
- Natalie Croxon
UPDATE 1.20pm
Shout out to St Monica’s in Kangaroo Flat…
UPDATE 1.10pm:
We caught up with the two main candidates. Liberal candidate Megan Purcell is on the hustings in Strathfieldsaye. Here’s what she had to say:
Labor candidate Lisa Chesters visited Epsom to vote, and here’s what she had to say earlier in the day:
UPDATE 11am: Plenty of people have headed out to the polls early this election day.
A dozen or so people were waiting when doors opened at Holy Trinity Church in Flora Hill at 8am this morning, while there was a long line of voters snaking through the grounds of Lightning Reef Primary School by 10am.
Among the people at Lightning Reef was first-time voter Zoe Deed, 19, who said she was feeling excited to participate in her first election.
It was also busy at St Andrew’s Uniting Church in Bendigo, where officer-in-charge Geoff Young said more than 1800 people were expected to vote.
Mr Young, who was in his 47th year of working at polling places for the Australian Electoral Commission, said there was usually a rush in the morning and quite often another late in the day, before voting closed at 6pm.
The polling place is managed by 13 staff, who have a long day ahead of them - most started at 7am and expect to work until about 9.30pm.
Volunteers managing sausage sizzles and cake stalls also have a big day ahead.
At Holy Trinity Church volunteers are selling both sausage sandwiches and baked goods to raise money for a planned extension of their church building.
Meanwhile proceeds from the sausage sizzle and chocolate sale at Lightning Reef Primary School will go towards buying books for the school’s new library and sending students to the Energy Breakthrough program in Maryborough in November.
- Natalie Croxon
UPDATE: 10.20am:
We caught up with the crew at the Lightning Reef Primary School polling place.
If you’re voting at a regional polling booth, let us know what’s happening. What’s the feel of the day? Have you got the best voting day breakfast on offer?
UPDATE 9am: It looks like the region might get a bit of rain this election day.
Bendigo is looking at a chance of drizzle this morning, although that will become less likely as the day wears on.
The city can expect a top temperature of 14 degrees, with light winds.
Elsewhere is looking much the same – Kyneton might also receive some rain and is heading for a top of 12, while Castlemaine is expected to reach 15 degrees today.
UPDATE 8.30am: Good morning and welcome to the Bendigo Advertiser’s federal election day blog. We’ll be bringing you live coverage today so keep an eye on this story throughout the day.
While we wait, read on for information on electorates in central Victoria and details on where to vote.
THE ELECTORATES
Bendigo
With a margin of 1.3 per cent, Bendigo could prove to be a key seat in the formation of the next government. Labor MP Lisa Chesters has campaigned heavily on education, health and jobs, while Liberal candidate Megan Purcell focused on the economy, jobs and infrastructure.
A number of high profile ministers and shadow ministers visited the city during the campaign, including Julie Bishop, Greg Hunt, Jason Clare and Kim Carr.
Both major parties have promised funding to rejuvenate the Soldier’s Memorial Institute on Pall Mall. Labor will help purchase a new imperial dragon for Bendigo and spend $2 million upgrading the Bendigo Tennis Centre. The Liberal Party will spend $1.9 million on the Wesley Hill sports centre in Castlemaine, $10 million on the Calder Freeway, and $245,000 for extra CCTV in Hargreaves Mall, among other funding commitments.
All eight candidates submitted a “vision” for Bendigo. Click their names to read what they have to offer:
Murray
The Labor Party’s decision to preference the Liberals ahead of the Nationals made Murray into one of the most interesting seats at this election. Vacated by Dr Sharman Stone after 20 years, the vote between Nationals candidate Damian Drum and Liberal candidate Duncan McGauchie is likely to go down to the wire.
McEwen
The campaign in McEwen has been dominated in the media by the Liberal Party candidate Chris Jermyn, who made a number of high profile gaffes. Despite this, he is expected to be a strong challenger to sitting Labor MP Rob Mitchell.
Mallee
The Mallee electorate has become one of the safest in Australia for the Nationals. The Nationals, or the Country Party, have held the seat since it was created in 1949. Sitting MP Andrew Broad is expected to claim another comfortable victory.
Wannon
Like Mallee, Wannon has been a safe seat for at least five decades. The Liberal Party has held the seat since 1955, and included former prime minister Malcolm Fraser as MP, along with former speaker David Hawker. Veterans affairs minister Dan Tehan has held the seat since 2010 on a margin of 10.7 and will likely hold the seat against Labor challenger Mick Barling.
WHERE TO VOTE
About 7000 polling places will be operating from 8am to 6pm on election day across the country.
Need to know where to vote in your electorate? Click below to find a polling booth in your area or head to the AEC website for other electorates.
HOW HAS SENATE VOTING CHANGED?
Senate voting has changed this year, here’s how you can fill out your ballot sheet whether you vote above or below the line.
Above the line
If you vote above the line fill out the top boxes with your preferences from 1 to 6.
Below the line
If you vote below the line you can either number 12 boxes from 1 to 12, or continue numbering after 12 until all boxes are filled.
MORE COVERAGE
- Federal election 2016: Local and national news, videos
- Letters from the editors across Victoria
- What time do the polls open and other key facts
- YourVote election 2016
- Election eve dead heat, cliffhanger looms
- It's 50-50, so what was the point of it all?
- How to host a swinging election night party
- 12 things to watch out for on election night