Increased Majority

I've gotta say, two weeks out from the State election I was tipping a hung parliament. That changed during the two weeks I spent manning pre-poll booths in Wangaratta and Shepparton for 'Josh Hudson 4 Northern Victoria', but the final result was still rather surprising.
 

Whilst Ali Cupper's win in Mildura was on the surprising side, less surprising was the relative success of Independents overall - Suzanna Sheed was re-elected after delivering for Shepparton. Jacqui Hawkins was 2000 votes off winning Benambra and Tammy Atkins was around 500 votes of making Ovens Valley marginal.

The Coalition's lack of policies was rejected, despite a list of Labor scandals. I truly hope that this isn't a dress rehearsal for the Federal election next year - I want to see a true competition of ideals, not one side with policies and the other only offering rhetoric.

Whilst on pre-poll I had the pleasure of catching up with and/or meeting a number of candidates and now-MPs, including Jaclyn Symes, Wendy Lovell & Tania Maxwell. These and other contacts will come in handy if I'm lucky enough to represent Nicholls after the election.