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Victorians who hate their Prime Minister Daniel Andrews will be offered $350 to run in his electorate.
Melbourne-based art dealer Andrew King hopes to attract 50 candidates willing to run for the safe Labor voters of Mulgrave in the south-east of the city in the upcoming election on November 26.
His campaign intervention comes as a Newspoll shows that Victoria’s Labor government may lose 10 seats and possibly its majority as Mr Andrews faces another anti-corruption investigation.
Mr King, co-curator of the KSR Gallery with his wife Sandra Powell, has a I had a gouge website that invites potential candidates to nominate.
“Come on to Andrews. Stand up to him,” it said.
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Victorians who hate their Prime Minister Daniel Andrews are being offered $350 to run for office in his electorate (he is pictured, right, with wife Catherine campaigning in Melbourne)
Mr King has pledged to pay the $350 nomination fee for the first 50 people to run for office for Mr Andrews’ seat from Mulgrave, who held Labor in 2018 by a margin of 12.7 percent.
If he had that number of buyers, he’d be left with $17,500.
Before committing, however, potential candidates must be enrolled in the Mulgrave electoral base – which stretches from Wheelers Hill to Noble Park. They must also have a good character.
“I only have two conditions,” said Mr. King.
‘1. Priority is given to voters registered in Mulgrave.
‘2. No assholes.’
King said he was willing to help candidates who did not live in Mulgrave, provided they were registered there.
“All Victorians – whether you live in Swan Hill, Sandringham or Shepparton – are eligible to stand up to Andrews by taking on him in Mulgrave,” he said.
Those wishing to run as independent candidates have until 12 noon on 11 November.
Art dealer Andrew King pledges to pay the $350 nomination fee for the first 50 people to run for office in Mulgrave, which Labor had in 2018 by a 12.7 percent margin (pictured, Labor supporters in Mulgrave celebrate on election night, 2018)
The deadline for registered political candidates is 12 noon the day before, November 10.
Election records must be updated by November 8.
A Newspoll published in The Weekend Australian on Saturday showed a 3.3 percent swing against Labor as Mr Andrews seeks a third, consecutive four-year term in power.
This would cause Labor to lose 10 seats after redistributions.
The Newspoll had both Labor and the Coalition each with 37 percent of the vote.
But after preferences, Labor led the opposition 54 percent to 46 percent, with Greens voters expecting to give their preferences to Labor over the Liberal party.
A News Poll published in The Weekend Australian on Saturday showed a 3.3 percent swing against Labor as Daniel Andrews seeks a third, consecutive four-year term in power. He is pictured (left) with Liberal leader Matthew Guy back on the run despite his 2018 defeat. They are with former ABC Melbourne radio host Jon Faine
With just three weeks until Election Day, it has been revealed that the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating a $1.2 million grant to the Health Workers Union in October 2018.
The inquiry focuses on Mr Andrews, who has previously been investigated for taxpayer-funded electorate bureau staff used for Labor campaign activities in 2014.
Andrews dismissed the latest report of an investigation into him on Saturday, claiming he had acted “properly at all times and in all things”.
“Regardless of any defamation, innuendo or media coverage based on anonymous sources, the only IBAC issues I will comment on are those that are the subject of a final report — as appropriate and always been my position,” he said. .
‘I behave appropriately at all times and in all things.
“That’s the oath I’ve sworn and I take very seriously.”
Labor won 55 seats in Victoria’s 88-member Legislative Assembly in the November 2018 elections, compared to 27 for the Liberal and National parties.
The loss of 10 seats for the ALP would mean that it would hardly rule with a majority.
More seat losses would force Labor into a minority government and make it dependent on the Greens or new potential independents to stay in power.