Upper house votes equally important

Political parties, groups and individuals will use Saturday’s state election to try to consolidate parliamentary positions or gain influence in Victoria’s upper house.

Among upper-house candidates this year is Ararat district councillor and farmer Jo Armstrong, representing the Nationals.

Elections for Victoria’s Legislative Council, the parliamentary house of review, traditionally attract an eclectic mix of groups and people as well representatives from mainstream parties.

This year’s election is no exception.

While elections for the lower house or Victorian Legislative Assembly determine who governs the state, upper-house elections also have a profound impact on governance.

Labor’s Jaala Pulford, for example, holds one of the five Western Victorian upper-house seats and is also Agriculture and Regional Development Minister. The Wimmera, southern Mallee and Grampians sit within a vast 79,438 square-kilometre Western Victorian region that stretches from Melbourne to the South Australian border.

In the 2014 election Simon Ramsay, Liberal, Jaala Pulford, Australian Labor Party, Josh Morris, Liberal, Gayle Tierney, Labor and James Purcell, Vote 1 Local Jobs won Western District seats.

Here are your upper-house candidates –

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL – WESTERN DISTRICT