Electoral Form Guide: Mallee
Electorate: Mallee
Margin: Nationals 21.3%
Location: North-Western Regional, Victoria
In a nutshell: Mallee will produce an interesting Nationals-versus-Liberal contest when Nationals incumbent John Forrest calls it a day. For the time being, the Nationals are safe from anything other than a strong independent challenge, which doesn’t seem to have emerged.
The candidates
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Electorate analysis: The electorate of Mallee covers the north-western corner of Victoria, including the south bank of the Murray River from Mildura and Swan Hall and further territory south to Horsham. It was created in 1949 from territory which had mostly been in Wimmera, which was pushed southwards and later abolished. Mallee has always been held by the National/Country Party, although their candidate John Forrest was pushed very hard by Liberal candidate Adrian Kidd when Peter Fisher retired in 1993. Mallee emerged from the 2007 election as the safest Coalition seat in the country. Forrest received his first significant promotion after the election, being made parliamentary secretary first for trade and later for regional development.
Analysis written by William Bowe. Read Bowe’s blog, The Poll Bludger.