War of words over, now
RUSTY WOODGER
FTER months of politicking, controversies and eyecatching promises, the day is finally here. More than two million Victorians will go to the polls today to cast their votes, joining more than a million who have lodged ballots in the past fortnight.
In seats around Geelong, more than 60,000 have swept through early voting centres to decide who will represent them in state parliament for the next four years.
But as the clock ticks down to the closure of the polls at 6pm, the fate of several local seats hangs in the balance.
It has been a turbulent campaign for many parties and candidates across the state — particularly the Greens, who have had a nightmare run into the election, forced to defend or let go nominees for past indiscretions.
The rollercoaster has not bypassed Geelong, but few other areas have had a passenger quite like Darryn Lyons.
The former mayor announced his candidacy as an independent with a bang after months of speculation that he would attempt to unseat Labor’s Christine Couzens.
It did not quite have the hallmarks of a Hollywood script, but there was an obvious revenge angle to Mr Lyons throwing his hat in the ring.
Two and a half years ago, the State Government sacked Geelong council — where Mr Lyons had been mayor — over allegations of bullying and dysfunction.
At times, the former paparazzi boss has denied he is on a revenge mission, but it is evident the past history with Labor is a motivating factor.
Indeed, our spies tell us there has been some action at one early voting centre, including curt words exchanged between Mr Lyons’s team and Labor’s Lara MP, John Eren.
After announcing his candidacy, Mr Lyons hit the ground running — almost literally — with his notable pink campaign vehicle around Geelong.
His initial efforts to drum up support seemed to be paying dividends, with an Addy street poll indicating he was well ahead of other candidates.
Labor must have been worried, too — commissioning a series of adver- tisements slamming Mr Lyons over his alleged “fake abs” and labelling him a “real Liberal” who was running under the guise of an independent.
He hit back by criticising Labor for “playing the man”, and maybe he was right, but he scored a major own goal this week when his personal Twitter account sent a bizarre public post to federal MP Richard Marles, questioning whether he was gay.
Whether that blunder will do anything to hurt his chances at the polls remains to be seen.
In comparison, Ms Couzens and the Liberals’ Freya Fidge have had relatively quiet campaigns.
Elsewhere, significant interest is falling on the seat of South Barwon, where the Liberals’ Andrew Katos is fending off a considerable challenge from Labor’s Darren Cheeseman.
Mr Katos sits on a narrow margin of 2.9 per cent, and with a predicted statewide swing towards Labor, Mr Cheeseman could well be holding the mantle by tomorrow morning.
A key issue in the seat during the campaign has centred on the proposed Spring Creek development outside Torquay, which has troubled multiple levels of government for more than a decade.
Labor has said it wants the controversial development scrapped, but will not commit to it until a consultation process with the community.
The Liberals, meanwhile, have said they will respect the plans already made and allow the development to go ahead.
Initially, Mr Cheeseman was accused of going rogue from his party, when he said he wanted Torquay’s town boundary shrunk to kill off the proposal.
Confusion reigned for days about Labor’s official position, before the party jumped behind the candidate, signalling a small PR win for the onetime federal MP.
Mr Cheeseman and Labor have devoted enormous time and attention