Ongoing anger over the cost of living and the performance of the state government are raising hopes within the Coalition that Labor-held outer suburban and regional seats in Victoria once deemed off limits could be snatched on election day.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spent Monday in the outer-Melbourne seats of Dunkley and Gorton, adding to speculation his internal research was pointing to potential large swings.
At the same time, the Nationals are focusing on Bendigo, another Labor stronghold.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie was in Bendigo on Tuesday with the National and Liberal candidates. They promised to re-establish the Building Better Regions Fund, a $1.38 billion regional grants scheme that Labor abolished, claiming it was used to pork-barrel Nationals electorates.
The auditor-general found it funnelled an extra $100 million to Nationals electorates against the advice of the Infrastructure Department.
McKenzie said the fund would be worth much less this time – $250 million – and would be an ongoing open application program for two years, until the money was exhausted.
Source: AFR
In the end he was sniffing the petrol he got nowhere.