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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Victorian state election, 2018
Morwell District
Eastern Victoria: Churchill, Morwell, Newborough, Traralgon
Federal seats: Parts of Gippsland and
Monash (formerly McMillan)
Legislative Council: Eastern Victoria Region
Local government areas: Parts of Latrobe and Wellington
Enrolment 2014 election: 45,409
Enrolment 2018 election: 48,406 (up 6.6%)
Sitting member:
Hon Russell Northe (Independent): Elected 2006, 2010, 2014
2010 Nationals majority over Labor: 16.3
2014 Nationals majority over Labor: 1.8
Status: Very marginal Nationals
2014 results
Candidates
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Sheridan Bond
The Nationals |
Daniel Caffrey
Australian Greens |
Dale Harriman
Liberal Party |
Hon Russell Northe
Independent |
Mark Richards
Australian Labor Party |
Reece Diggins (Independent)
Sheridan Bond (The Nationals)
Tracie Lund (Independent)
Mark Richards (Australian Labor Party)
Ricky Muir (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers)
Ray Burgess (Independent)
Daniel Caffrey (Australian Greens)
Dale Harriman (Liberal Party)
Russell Northe (Independent)
Nathan Keene (Democratic Labour Party)
Christine Sindt (Independent)
Morwell District
Morwell was created in 1955, replacing the old seat of Gippsland North. For its first 15 years it was a largely rural seat and
safely Liberal. But the rapid indstrialisation of the Latrobe Valley led to a growing working-class vote in Moe and Morwell,
leading to a period of Labor domination. The decline of the coal and power generation industries since the 1990s has seen these
towns lose population, and the once solid working-class Labor vote has dissipated.
Labor first won Morwell in 1970, and four successive Labor members held it until the last, Brendan Jenkins, was defeated
in 2006. His defeat was partly due to demographic factors, partly to factional disputes in the local Labor Party, and partly
due to an unpopular decision by the Bracks government to divert some of the Latrobe Valley's water to Melbourne. Labor lost
the neighbouring seat of Narracan at the same time, for the same reasons. The new Nationals MLA, Russell Northe, gained a large
swing towards him in 2010, but lost most of it when the seat swung back to Labor in 2014.
Russell Northe, MLA for Morwell since 2006, caused one of the upsets of that election by taking the seat for the Nationals, ahead
of both Labor and Liberal candidates. He was a business manager before his election, and well known locally as a footballer and
coach.
Northe was
appointed a parliamentary secretary in 2010 and became Minister for Small Business and Minister for Energy and Resources in March 2014.
After the 2014 election defeat he was appointed to the opposition frontbench. Northe resigned from the frontbench and from the
Nationals in August 2017, revealing that he had substantial gambling debts. Since then he has sat as an independent, and intends
contesting the seat again.
Labor, Liberal and Nationals candidates will be competing to succeed Northe. The Nationals candidate is Sheridan Bond, an accountant and
business manager, and a Latrobe City councillor. She is vice-president of the Victorian Nationals. The Liberal candidate is Dale
Hartman, a former Mayor of Latrobe and chair of the National Timber Councils Association. The Labor candidate Mark Richards was a worker
at the Hazlewood Power Station before its closure and is a union activist. The Greens candidate Daniel Caffrey is a teacher. Former
Senator Ricky Muir is running for the Shooters and Fishers Party.
Boundaries following 2014 redistricting:
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