Matt Male
Liberal candidate Renee Heath has been elected to the Eastern Victoria Region.
During the election campaign, then-opposition leader Matthew Guy announced Ms Heath would not sit within the parliamentary Liberal Party over her links to the controversial City Builders church, but new leader John Pesutto reversed the decision.
In representing Eastern Victoria, Ms Heath will be joined by Tom McIntosh (Labor), Melina Bath (Nationals), Harriet Shing (Labor), and Jeff Bourman (Shooters, Fishers, Farmers).
On Facebook on 14 December, Ms Bath said: “May I humbly say how grateful I am for having opportunity to continue my work advocating for the issues important to EVR (Eastern Victoria Region.”
There are 11 Lower House seats in Eastern Victoria: Bass, Evelyn, Gippsland East, Gippsland South, Hastings, Monbulk, Mornington, Morwell, Narracan, Nepean and Pakenham.
Bass and Pakenham went to Labor, with Jordan Crugnale elected to the seat of Bass while Emma Vulin picked up the new Pakenham seat.
The 2020-2021 redivision of state electoral boundaries saw Eastern Victoria lose 7740 electors to North-Eastern Metropolitan Region (parts of Chirnside Park and Kilsyth), and a further 30,914 electors to South-Eastern Metropolitan Region (Beaconsfield, Clyde North and Guys Hill; most of Beaconsfield Upper, Berwick and Harkaway).
On the other hand, Eastern Victoria Region gained 7088 electors from Eastern Metropolitan Region (most of The Basin; parts of Boronia and Ferntree Gully) and 2183 electors from South-Eastern Metropolitan Region (part of Ferntree Gully).
Labor will need at least six crossbenchers to vote with them to pass legislation through the Upper House.
Premier Daniel Andrews led Labor to a sweeping victory to secure a third term in power at the election on 26 November.
Labor won 56 out of 88 seats in the Victorian Lower House, winning a bigger majority than it had in its last term.
The Coalition secured 31 and the Greens claimed four.
The Labor Party won 55 seats in the so-called “Danslide” election of 2018.
– With AAP
