May 1, 2025 • 17 mins
Today we bring you a special episode recorded in the south-west Victorian electorate of Wannon. The seat encompasses tourist towns from Lorne along the Great Ocean Road, to Warrnambool.
And who better to tell the evolving story of Wannon than our associate editor and special writer Tony Wright. He was born in Heywood, grew up on sheep and cattle properties in the Western District, went to school in Hamilton, started his career in small newspapers in Portland, Warrnambool and Camperdown, and still has a house near Portland.
Our audio producer Julia Carr-Catzel joins Tony Wright on the road.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:00):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is inside politics. I'm Jacqueline Maley, it's Friday, the
2nd of May. Today we bring you a special episode
recorded in the south west Victorian electorate of Wannon. The
seat encompasses tourist towns from Lorne along the Great Ocean
Road to Warrnambool and all the way to the South
(00:20):
Australian border. And who better to tell the evolving story
of Wannon than our associate editor and special writer, Tony Risch?
He was born in Heywood, grew up on sheep and
cattle properties in the Western District, went to school in Hamilton,
started his career in small newspapers in Portland, Warrnambool and Camperdown,
and still has a house near Portland. Our audio producer
(00:41):
Julia Katzel joins Tony on the road.
S2 (00:48):
As part of their marginal seats across the country fight
for every last vote.
S3 (00:53):
So where are we headed right now, Tony?
S4 (00:55):
We're headed from Cavendish, towards the outskirts of Hamilton, where
Mark Wooten and his wife Eve Kantor have a very
huge grazing operation, and they have decided to support Alex
Dyson and they have become the second biggest donors to
(01:15):
his campaign. I believe they've put $100,000 in, which for
a lot of neighbors is quite a shock that a
big grazier of the Hamilton area would not be supporting
Dan Tehan, but instead would be supporting somebody like Alex Dyson.
It looks, if you were to believe polls, that Alex
(01:36):
Dyson has pulled ahead. The last YouGov poll had Alex
Dyson just slightly ahead of the sitting member, Dan Tehan. So, um,
that's in itself an extraordinary figure, I suppose.
S5 (01:51):
Are you struggling with childcare? You are not alone, because
in south west Victoria and a lot of regional communities
around Australia, We are in a childcare desert because Australia.
S6 (02:00):
South west Victoria have made their voices clear. They don't
want Labor's offshore wind farm zone forced upon them. Our
local communities in Warrnambool and Port Fairy treasure their coastline.
S4 (02:14):
From here came Alex Dyson with a very powerful campaign. Well,
well supported with money, probably $1 million. He got about
a thousand volunteers to knock on doors. He set up
offices right around the electorate. If at this election, the
(02:34):
liberals lose this seat, particularly to a young independent who
they've tried to suggest is a bit of a fool,
it'll be a huge loss for the Liberal Party because
it's their their duel in the rural crown, really, certainly
in Victoria. The National Party has a lot of seats
(02:57):
in in the bush. But the Liberal Party's got this
one and it is an enormous one.
S7 (03:06):
Hi, Tony. Yes, Mark. Mark. Julia. Well, this is very pleasant.
We've got a little bit of rain. We've been here
nearly 29 years, and I think this is the toughest election. Yeah.
Even through the drought. I can't really remember.
S4 (03:25):
You'd be the second biggest funder of Alex, wouldn't you?
S7 (03:29):
I think we would be, yeah. Other than climate.
S4 (03:33):
Climate 200 is first. Could I ask why you've, um,
decided on Alex? Over. Dan?
S8 (03:40):
Well, he came to visit us, and we found because
we're fairly open minded. Um, and we found him to
be incredibly genuine. Not a roaring radical, All open minded,
seem to be keen on listening to people's needs and
(04:02):
that just appealed to us.
S4 (04:03):
You're a niece of Rupert Murdoch, right? How is your mother?
S8 (04:09):
He's my. He was my my mum's elder brother.
S7 (04:13):
Right.
S4 (04:15):
How do you reckon Rupert would go with the idea
that you're going for a what one might call a
teal independent against the Liberal Party in western Victoria?
S8 (04:25):
That would be a misunderstanding, because it wouldn't be that
we're going for a teal independent. But, um, I don't
think that he'd be that interested either way.
S7 (04:36):
But the other the other reason is and that's where
I did separate some I think the Nats, um, in
Victoria do listen to their constituents. I don't think the
Liberal Party in Victoria do. And I think that's been reflected.
It's been a very urban based, um, decision making body.
(04:57):
And that's one of the frustrations that I think a
lot of rural people have and why India's been so successful. Mhm.
And because people want a genuine voice that represents what
is a different voice than, than the rest of those parties.
And that's where I think Alex Dyson's a really interesting
one because he, he is, he's born and bred in
Warrnambool and he does understand, you know, the issues here ironically.
(05:22):
You know people say he's not there. Well Dan was
team was helicoptered and dropped in here. You know he's
an absolute Liberal Party machine man. So there's there's no question.
And I'm not suggesting Dan couldn't have been, um, sympathetic
to understanding that the electorate as well. So I'm not
pigheaded about that. But I think that is one of
(05:43):
the differences is I think the Liberal Party really has
disengaged with its rural base, putting aside the anti Liberal Party,
pro prone liberal party, whatever. Your view is just to
be self-serving as an electorate, I think people are going,
we want to be noticed and we want to be
able to have some a bit of a bigger slice
(06:05):
of that pie than what we've been in the past.
And we have neighbors here who have dad teen signs
up opposite our Alex Dyson signs. But it's quite good banter,
you know, there's nothing we're not ripping down. But the
election will finish. No matter what ever happens. We will
sit down with them and we'll go to the pub
when we see them, and we'll talk about whatever we
(06:25):
talk about.
S4 (06:26):
That's your neighbors. Of course. Others have come and taken
your sign.
S7 (06:29):
Well, we've lost four of our signs. And for everyone
they've taken, we've put two more up. So we now
have where we had, they would have had to put
up with four, but now they have to put up
with eight.
S3 (06:40):
Okay, so we've just wrapped up our interview with Mark
Wootton and Eve Cantor. And was there anything you took
away from from what they said to us or told
us about the campaign?
S4 (06:50):
I think probably the most interesting thing was that they
said that Alex Dyson came and knocked on their door
and talked to them at great length, and admitted that
he knew nothing about agriculture at that point. And then
he came back and back and and learnt quite a lot. Um,
they're environmental farmers, if you like. Um, and so that
(07:13):
melds pretty well with somebody who's being supported very heavily
by climate 200. Where we are is very much a
grain growing area. It's it's flat and broad, um, and
easily tilled. And it grows a lot of grain. You
see silos everywhere south of here and further west, it's
(07:38):
more considered grazing land. Um, grazing of of sheep for wool. Very,
very rich wool growing area. Grazing of cattle. And then
to the east. If you go almost to Geelong, there
is Colac, which has got a number of industries in it.
(07:59):
And then you go down to Lorne. The far east
of this vast electorate, which is a very rich tourism
area by the sea. And it's really the start of
the Great Ocean Road, which winds its way around the
southern edges of the electorate, or western Victoria, if you like,
(08:19):
all the way after you continue through Warrnambool and Port
Fairy and Portland, all the way to the South Australian
border and then up to the Grampians. So it's a
vast and very diverse place. I find it very beautiful.
S3 (08:42):
And we're about to drive to David Robertson's place. He's
also a farmer and he's a Liberal supporter. Can you
tell us more about him?
S4 (08:51):
Yeah. David has been a property owner near Hamilton, out
of Coleraine for a long time, and has built a
very big operation out there. He's now retired and his
son has taken over. He's also been for several years
the mayor of the Southern Grampians Shire, which covers that
(09:11):
sort of area that traditionally has been liberal grazing territory,
I suppose you might say.
S3 (09:18):
And I believe he worked under Malcolm Fraser at one point,
didn't he?
S4 (09:22):
He was a jackaroo on, uh, on Noreen, which was
the Fraser property when he was very young. A long
time ago. He never worked for him as a political
adviser or otherwise. He was just a jackaroo on the
property and then went on and built his own properties.
And he. He's already told me that he is supporting
(09:44):
Dan Tehan, but we'll find out whether he believes that
Dan Tehan can win, or whether things have changed to
the point where it could change to Alex Dyson. What
years were you mayor?
S9 (10:00):
Oh, last year and the year before? It's not my scene,
but going for four years to Canberra and four years
down to Melbourne to talk to these politicians. I have
some understanding of of how the system works. And so
now comes this election. I fully understand the garbage that's
(10:22):
coming out of Dyson's mouth. He's never promised anything, but
he said, I'll fix the roads. Typical teal as teals do.
They pick out popular subjects, which they did in Frydenberg
and all these other ones roads, childcare and housing shortage.
(10:44):
They're all state issues.
S4 (10:47):
Dan would be able to do it well.
S9 (10:50):
Dan has achieved a lot of things over the time.
He's had what, three senior portfolios trade, education, anti immigration
and um but still he's there. He's respected by both
sides of the fence. The only trouble is Dyson doesn't
live here. He might have been born here. He flies
(11:12):
back for elections. He's we've never seen him here before
except for this election. So he the last election? Oh, yeah.
For a week or two. Yeah. This. This. But he's
been here for six, eight months now and spent $1 million,
you know. So. But he doesn't he's not like Dan Graphics.
Well yeah I'm not sure what the demographics have changed,
(11:35):
but the younger group here, they've never seen a bad time.
It's been pretty good this whole 25 years of this
early century.
S4 (11:45):
You reckon that Alex Tyson's going to win?
S9 (11:47):
Yep.
S4 (11:48):
What will happen then to woman in your view?
S9 (11:52):
Oh, look, there's I wrote a letter to the editor
there a while ago. There's two things about this election.
One is I think the most important thing is that
we have a strong government with strong leadership. And I
think the more independence we have, the less likely we're
going to have of strong leadership and a strong government.
(12:13):
They're always going to be. The second thing is, I think,
is my backyard. So everybody's got a personal interest here. Oh,
we need our roads better. Have you driven the roads
on the rest of Australia? No, but my roads are
the worst. They are, you know. So we need childcare,
we need more housing. We need better roads. We want this,
(12:34):
this and this. And so you come down to your
personal issues down here. And I think that, yes, we
will be in the political wilderness to some degree. And
I think if Dyson gets in, yes, we won't have. Well,
he'll never be in government. So we'll never have a
senior minister or prime minister or speaker of the House
(12:57):
or what we've had in the past. Someone who's there
can say, hey, I'm the member down there, I want
this and is right there beside the treasurer, or he's
in opposition talking to them about the problem. This person's
over here in the Crossbenches one one lone voice.
S3 (13:18):
Okay, Tony, we've just wrapped up with David. Any takeaways
from that interview?
S4 (13:23):
The biggest takeaway I had was that he supports Dan Tehan,
but he's gone off to a betting shop and has
put money on Alex Dyson because he says there's no
doubt in his mind that he's going to win this election. Well, um,
when you've got a, I suppose, a lifetime Liberal supporter
(13:46):
who supports Dan Tehan, who's going off to put money
on the challenger. Um, there's trouble ahead for Dan Tehan,
I think this weekend.
S3 (13:55):
I believe he said he wanted something to celebrate on Saturday.
S4 (13:59):
That's right. He did? It was a bit tongue in cheek,
of course.
S3 (14:04):
Our last stop on this little campaign bus of ours,
with you as the tour guide, is the races.
S4 (14:10):
It's a big event in Warrnambool, and. And it's a
big event for the entire Western District. It's the the
Grand National meeting. It goes over several days and thousands
of people come from all over the place. It's a very,
very old race meeting. It goes right back to 1847.
They still have the longest steeplechase race over 33 jumps
(14:35):
in the in the nation.
S10 (14:39):
But I think it's is probably the end of the night.
S4 (14:41):
The Warrnambool races. The May meeting is a very big
one and it says this is purely Western district.
S3 (15:00):
So, Tony, I know you said you weren't going to
make any predictions for this Saturday, but if this electorate
does change hands for the first time in over 70 years,
what does that say about the people here and what
they want and the region more broadly?
S4 (15:17):
Well, I think what's happened is there's been a demographic change. Obviously,
young people are more drawn to change, if you like, though,
you know, you've just mentioned 70 years. Nobody can really
remember those 70 years except somebody like me who has
been alive for a lot of them. There's that sort
(15:38):
of feeling that they want something different? Um, there are
those also who feel that the Liberal Party got too
comfortable in Woden and didn't, uh, go out of its
way to do the sort of things that are done
in marginal seats, like the one right next door, Corangamite,
which has got a $600 million duplication of a road.
(16:02):
But I think also there is there is something above that,
if you like, and that is this campaign in general.
Peter Dutton hasn't been able to cut through. Um, it
would appear people are more keen to hang on to
what they've got or change to something they understand. There is,
(16:26):
without doubt down here, a very big groundswell of support
for change. I mean, you only have to go into
the pub as we did last night. Everyone we spoke
to and a lot of them were my my old
friends who have never imagined supporting an independent previously, just
said as one. Alex Dyson will win this election. Well,
(16:48):
I don't know whether they're right.
S3 (16:50):
Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what
happens this weekend.
S4 (16:53):
Exactly.
S1 (16:58):
Today's episode was produced by Julia Katzel. Our executive producer
is Tami Mills, and Tom McKendrick is our head of audio.
To listen to our episodes as soon as they drop,
follow Inside Politics on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen
to your podcasts. And to stay up to date with
all our election coverage and exclusives, visit The Age and
The Sydney Morning Herald websites to support our journalism. Subscribe
(17:21):
to us by visiting The Age or SMH. I'm Jacqueline Maley,
thank you for listening.
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is inside politics. I'm Jacqueline Maley, it's Friday, the
2nd of May. Today we bring you a special episode
recorded in the south west Victorian electorate of Wannon. The
seat encompasses tourist towns from Lorne along the Great Ocean
Road to Warrnambool and all the way to the South
(00:20):
Australian border. And who better to tell the evolving story
of Wannon than our associate editor and special writer, Tony Risch?
He was born in Heywood, grew up on sheep and
cattle properties in the Western District, went to school in Hamilton,
started his career in small newspapers in Portland, Warrnambool and Camperdown,
and still has a house near Portland. Our audio producer
(00:41):
Julia Katzel joins Tony on the road.
S2 (00:48):
As part of their marginal seats across the country fight
for every last vote.
S3 (00:53):
So where are we headed right now, Tony?
S4 (00:55):
We're headed from Cavendish, towards the outskirts of Hamilton, where
Mark Wooten and his wife Eve Kantor have a very
huge grazing operation, and they have decided to support Alex
Dyson and they have become the second biggest donors to
(01:15):
his campaign. I believe they've put $100,000 in, which for
a lot of neighbors is quite a shock that a
big grazier of the Hamilton area would not be supporting
Dan Tehan, but instead would be supporting somebody like Alex Dyson.
It looks, if you were to believe polls, that Alex
(01:36):
Dyson has pulled ahead. The last YouGov poll had Alex
Dyson just slightly ahead of the sitting member, Dan Tehan. So, um,
that's in itself an extraordinary figure, I suppose.
S5 (01:51):
Are you struggling with childcare? You are not alone, because
in south west Victoria and a lot of regional communities
around Australia, We are in a childcare desert because Australia.
S6 (02:00):
South west Victoria have made their voices clear. They don't
want Labor's offshore wind farm zone forced upon them. Our
local communities in Warrnambool and Port Fairy treasure their coastline.
S4 (02:14):
From here came Alex Dyson with a very powerful campaign. Well,
well supported with money, probably $1 million. He got about
a thousand volunteers to knock on doors. He set up
offices right around the electorate. If at this election, the
(02:34):
liberals lose this seat, particularly to a young independent who
they've tried to suggest is a bit of a fool,
it'll be a huge loss for the Liberal Party because
it's their their duel in the rural crown, really, certainly
in Victoria. The National Party has a lot of seats
(02:57):
in in the bush. But the Liberal Party's got this
one and it is an enormous one.
S7 (03:06):
Hi, Tony. Yes, Mark. Mark. Julia. Well, this is very pleasant.
We've got a little bit of rain. We've been here
nearly 29 years, and I think this is the toughest election. Yeah.
Even through the drought. I can't really remember.
S4 (03:25):
You'd be the second biggest funder of Alex, wouldn't you?
S7 (03:29):
I think we would be, yeah. Other than climate.
S4 (03:33):
Climate 200 is first. Could I ask why you've, um,
decided on Alex? Over. Dan?
S8 (03:40):
Well, he came to visit us, and we found because
we're fairly open minded. Um, and we found him to
be incredibly genuine. Not a roaring radical, All open minded,
seem to be keen on listening to people's needs and
(04:02):
that just appealed to us.
S4 (04:03):
You're a niece of Rupert Murdoch, right? How is your mother?
S8 (04:09):
He's my. He was my my mum's elder brother.
S7 (04:13):
Right.
S4 (04:15):
How do you reckon Rupert would go with the idea
that you're going for a what one might call a
teal independent against the Liberal Party in western Victoria?
S8 (04:25):
That would be a misunderstanding, because it wouldn't be that
we're going for a teal independent. But, um, I don't
think that he'd be that interested either way.
S7 (04:36):
But the other the other reason is and that's where
I did separate some I think the Nats, um, in
Victoria do listen to their constituents. I don't think the
Liberal Party in Victoria do. And I think that's been reflected.
It's been a very urban based, um, decision making body.
(04:57):
And that's one of the frustrations that I think a
lot of rural people have and why India's been so successful. Mhm.
And because people want a genuine voice that represents what
is a different voice than, than the rest of those parties.
And that's where I think Alex Dyson's a really interesting
one because he, he is, he's born and bred in
Warrnambool and he does understand, you know, the issues here ironically.
(05:22):
You know people say he's not there. Well Dan was
team was helicoptered and dropped in here. You know he's
an absolute Liberal Party machine man. So there's there's no question.
And I'm not suggesting Dan couldn't have been, um, sympathetic
to understanding that the electorate as well. So I'm not
pigheaded about that. But I think that is one of
(05:43):
the differences is I think the Liberal Party really has
disengaged with its rural base, putting aside the anti Liberal Party,
pro prone liberal party, whatever. Your view is just to
be self-serving as an electorate, I think people are going,
we want to be noticed and we want to be
able to have some a bit of a bigger slice
(06:05):
of that pie than what we've been in the past.
And we have neighbors here who have dad teen signs
up opposite our Alex Dyson signs. But it's quite good banter,
you know, there's nothing we're not ripping down. But the
election will finish. No matter what ever happens. We will
sit down with them and we'll go to the pub
when we see them, and we'll talk about whatever we
(06:25):
talk about.
S4 (06:26):
That's your neighbors. Of course. Others have come and taken
your sign.
S7 (06:29):
Well, we've lost four of our signs. And for everyone
they've taken, we've put two more up. So we now
have where we had, they would have had to put
up with four, but now they have to put up
with eight.
S3 (06:40):
Okay, so we've just wrapped up our interview with Mark
Wootton and Eve Cantor. And was there anything you took
away from from what they said to us or told
us about the campaign?
S4 (06:50):
I think probably the most interesting thing was that they
said that Alex Dyson came and knocked on their door
and talked to them at great length, and admitted that
he knew nothing about agriculture at that point. And then
he came back and back and and learnt quite a lot. Um,
they're environmental farmers, if you like. Um, and so that
(07:13):
melds pretty well with somebody who's being supported very heavily
by climate 200. Where we are is very much a
grain growing area. It's it's flat and broad, um, and
easily tilled. And it grows a lot of grain. You
see silos everywhere south of here and further west, it's
(07:38):
more considered grazing land. Um, grazing of of sheep for wool. Very,
very rich wool growing area. Grazing of cattle. And then
to the east. If you go almost to Geelong, there
is Colac, which has got a number of industries in it.
(07:59):
And then you go down to Lorne. The far east
of this vast electorate, which is a very rich tourism
area by the sea. And it's really the start of
the Great Ocean Road, which winds its way around the
southern edges of the electorate, or western Victoria, if you like,
(08:19):
all the way after you continue through Warrnambool and Port
Fairy and Portland, all the way to the South Australian
border and then up to the Grampians. So it's a
vast and very diverse place. I find it very beautiful.
S3 (08:42):
And we're about to drive to David Robertson's place. He's
also a farmer and he's a Liberal supporter. Can you
tell us more about him?
S4 (08:51):
Yeah. David has been a property owner near Hamilton, out
of Coleraine for a long time, and has built a
very big operation out there. He's now retired and his
son has taken over. He's also been for several years
the mayor of the Southern Grampians Shire, which covers that
(09:11):
sort of area that traditionally has been liberal grazing territory,
I suppose you might say.
S3 (09:18):
And I believe he worked under Malcolm Fraser at one point,
didn't he?
S4 (09:22):
He was a jackaroo on, uh, on Noreen, which was
the Fraser property when he was very young. A long
time ago. He never worked for him as a political
adviser or otherwise. He was just a jackaroo on the
property and then went on and built his own properties.
And he. He's already told me that he is supporting
(09:44):
Dan Tehan, but we'll find out whether he believes that
Dan Tehan can win, or whether things have changed to
the point where it could change to Alex Dyson. What
years were you mayor?
S9 (10:00):
Oh, last year and the year before? It's not my scene,
but going for four years to Canberra and four years
down to Melbourne to talk to these politicians. I have
some understanding of of how the system works. And so
now comes this election. I fully understand the garbage that's
(10:22):
coming out of Dyson's mouth. He's never promised anything, but
he said, I'll fix the roads. Typical teal as teals do.
They pick out popular subjects, which they did in Frydenberg
and all these other ones roads, childcare and housing shortage.
(10:44):
They're all state issues.
S4 (10:47):
Dan would be able to do it well.
S9 (10:50):
Dan has achieved a lot of things over the time.
He's had what, three senior portfolios trade, education, anti immigration
and um but still he's there. He's respected by both
sides of the fence. The only trouble is Dyson doesn't
live here. He might have been born here. He flies
(11:12):
back for elections. He's we've never seen him here before
except for this election. So he the last election? Oh, yeah.
For a week or two. Yeah. This. This. But he's
been here for six, eight months now and spent $1 million,
you know. So. But he doesn't he's not like Dan Graphics.
Well yeah I'm not sure what the demographics have changed,
(11:35):
but the younger group here, they've never seen a bad time.
It's been pretty good this whole 25 years of this
early century.
S4 (11:45):
You reckon that Alex Tyson's going to win?
S9 (11:47):
Yep.
S4 (11:48):
What will happen then to woman in your view?
S9 (11:52):
Oh, look, there's I wrote a letter to the editor
there a while ago. There's two things about this election.
One is I think the most important thing is that
we have a strong government with strong leadership. And I
think the more independence we have, the less likely we're
going to have of strong leadership and a strong government.
(12:13):
They're always going to be. The second thing is, I think,
is my backyard. So everybody's got a personal interest here. Oh,
we need our roads better. Have you driven the roads
on the rest of Australia? No, but my roads are
the worst. They are, you know. So we need childcare,
we need more housing. We need better roads. We want this,
(12:34):
this and this. And so you come down to your
personal issues down here. And I think that, yes, we
will be in the political wilderness to some degree. And
I think if Dyson gets in, yes, we won't have. Well,
he'll never be in government. So we'll never have a
senior minister or prime minister or speaker of the House
(12:57):
or what we've had in the past. Someone who's there
can say, hey, I'm the member down there, I want
this and is right there beside the treasurer, or he's
in opposition talking to them about the problem. This person's
over here in the Crossbenches one one lone voice.
S3 (13:18):
Okay, Tony, we've just wrapped up with David. Any takeaways
from that interview?
S4 (13:23):
The biggest takeaway I had was that he supports Dan Tehan,
but he's gone off to a betting shop and has
put money on Alex Dyson because he says there's no
doubt in his mind that he's going to win this election. Well, um,
when you've got a, I suppose, a lifetime Liberal supporter
(13:46):
who supports Dan Tehan, who's going off to put money
on the challenger. Um, there's trouble ahead for Dan Tehan,
I think this weekend.
S3 (13:55):
I believe he said he wanted something to celebrate on Saturday.
S4 (13:59):
That's right. He did? It was a bit tongue in cheek,
of course.
S3 (14:04):
Our last stop on this little campaign bus of ours,
with you as the tour guide, is the races.
S4 (14:10):
It's a big event in Warrnambool, and. And it's a
big event for the entire Western District. It's the the
Grand National meeting. It goes over several days and thousands
of people come from all over the place. It's a very,
very old race meeting. It goes right back to 1847.
They still have the longest steeplechase race over 33 jumps
(14:35):
in the in the nation.
S10 (14:39):
But I think it's is probably the end of the night.
S4 (14:41):
The Warrnambool races. The May meeting is a very big
one and it says this is purely Western district.
S3 (15:00):
So, Tony, I know you said you weren't going to
make any predictions for this Saturday, but if this electorate
does change hands for the first time in over 70 years,
what does that say about the people here and what
they want and the region more broadly?
S4 (15:17):
Well, I think what's happened is there's been a demographic change. Obviously,
young people are more drawn to change, if you like, though,
you know, you've just mentioned 70 years. Nobody can really
remember those 70 years except somebody like me who has
been alive for a lot of them. There's that sort
(15:38):
of feeling that they want something different? Um, there are
those also who feel that the Liberal Party got too
comfortable in Woden and didn't, uh, go out of its
way to do the sort of things that are done
in marginal seats, like the one right next door, Corangamite,
which has got a $600 million duplication of a road.
(16:02):
But I think also there is there is something above that,
if you like, and that is this campaign in general.
Peter Dutton hasn't been able to cut through. Um, it
would appear people are more keen to hang on to
what they've got or change to something they understand. There is,
(16:26):
without doubt down here, a very big groundswell of support
for change. I mean, you only have to go into
the pub as we did last night. Everyone we spoke
to and a lot of them were my my old
friends who have never imagined supporting an independent previously, just
said as one. Alex Dyson will win this election. Well,
(16:48):
I don't know whether they're right.
S3 (16:50):
Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what
happens this weekend.
S4 (16:53):
Exactly.
S1 (16:58):
Today's episode was produced by Julia Katzel. Our executive producer
is Tami Mills, and Tom McKendrick is our head of audio.
To listen to our episodes as soon as they drop,
follow Inside Politics on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen
to your podcasts. And to stay up to date with
all our election coverage and exclusives, visit The Age and
The Sydney Morning Herald websites to support our journalism. Subscribe
(17:21):
to us by visiting The Age or SMH. I'm Jacqueline Maley,
thank you for listening.
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