SEAT OF CORIO
HELD BY: Richard Marles (ALP) CONFIRMED CONTENDERS: Richard Marles (ALP); Amber Forbes (The Greens); Desmond Sanborn (United Australia Party). 2016 MARGIN: 9.99 per cent. WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME: A safe Labor seat got a little safer when Richard Marles recorded a comfortable win over his low-profile Liberal opponent Richard Lange. Marles extended his margin by 2.24 per cent to a smidgen under double figures. Greens candidate Sarah Mansfield (now a City of Greater Geelong councillor) picked up 11.77 per cent of the primary vote and Jamie Overend, of the Animal Justice Party, got 3.12 in a field of seven candidates. BOUNDARY CHANGES: Very much a Geelong city seat now after changes to its southern boundaries. The Bellarine Peninsula has lanced from Corio and reallocated to Corangamite in exchange for populous suburbs south of the Barwon River. Highton and Belmont are now included inside a boundary partially formed by the Geelong Ring Road and Waurn Ponds Creek. WHAT IT MEANS: Theoretically, losing the Bellarine Peninsula and picking up Highton should see a small amount shaved off the ALP margin in Corio. But without a confirmed Liberal candidate for the seat, Marles will be sleeping very comfortably at the moment. WHAT MATTERS: The Coalition government made big promises for fast rail in its Budget and also pledged $50 million towards the proposed Geelong women’s and children’s hospital, while the City Deal it inked with the State Government last month locked in funding for Geelong’s waterfront yacht club redevelopment and city centre rejuvenation. But strangely, it’s yet to name a Corio candidate to spruik this investment. The missing piece of the puzzle is attention for Geelong’s northern suburbs, particularly to address entrenched social disadvantage. Any party that commits funding to the City of Greater Geelong’s Northern ARC health and wellbeing hub will have a head start with the voters of Corio. KEY BOOTHS: It will be interesting to see how the addition of Highton and Belmont changes the landscape in Corio. Of more than 30 booths at the last election, Marles lost only the two-party preferred vote in three (Anakie, Chilwell and Newtown). His dominance across Geelong’s northern suburbs was marked. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: It would take a minor miracle for Richard Marles to be denied a fifth election win in Corio. Marles, 51, was just a week old when Labor’s Gordon Scholes won the seat at a by-election in July 1967, and his party has held onto it since. After entering parliament in 2007, Marles has steadily risen through the Labor ranks. He stands to become defence minister should his friend, Bill Shorten, become prime minister of a Labor government, an outcome that would give the Geelong region a significant voice in Cabinet.