THE FINAL STRETCH

Fierce battle looms

IF you have not noticed, there is a federal election next week.

The starter’s gun fired on pre-poll voting this week and 14,600 people in the region have cast their vote.

As the campaign heads to a climax, expect a flurry of spending.

On Saturday, it is $200m for the Barwon Heads Rd.

This week, Liberal candidate for Corangamite Stephanie Asher pledged $4.45m for sports clubs at Barwon Heads and Leopold.

The Liberals also committed $6.2m to bring the youth mental health service headspace to Bannockburn and upgrade the Corio headspace.

Labor has pledged $4.8m for headspace at Armstrong Creek. This week, it also pledged $10.34m to expand the Sport for All program to connect people with disabilities to sport.

The glaring omission from Labor’s Corangamite campaign so far is the presence of leader Anthony Albanese.

After Mr Albanese’s two trips to Melbourne in recent weeks shunned Geelong, voters are right to ask, “Hey Albo, where the bloody hell are ya?”.

On the ground, Labor supporters say his no-show is a sign of the strength of Corangamite MP Libby Coker’s campaign.

Albo seems to be hitting his straps after clinching victory in the third leaders’ debate.

But he will be faced with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a self-described “bulldozer”, who will likely go to another level of campaigning next week. It seems Corangamite is in for a cliffhanger. A comprehensive YouGov

this week found the Liberals have an edge but Corangamite is too close to call.

According to YouGov, Corangamite’s two-party preferred vote was 50-50 while the Liberals were leading Labor by 7 per cent on first preferences in the seat.

The polling, completed between April 14 and May 7, drew insights from surveys with about 19,000 voters across all 151 lower-house seats, and demographic data in Corangamite.

The Addy’s exit poll of 100 people at Torquay on Monday found 50 voted Labor, 39 Liberal and 11 for minor parties.

If Corangamite is not decided on election night, it is likely the 21,096 postal votes that have gone out could have a say in the final outcome.