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Crugnale is back

10/12/2022

9 Comments

 
PictureBass MP Jordan Crugnale
By Catherine Watson
 
AFTER 13 days of counting, scrutineering, recounting and rechecking, Labor's Jordan Crugnale has retained the seat of Bass, just 202 votes ahead of Liberal Aaron Brown.

Her election meant Labor actually increased its 2018 'Danslide' win.  

On Saturday morning, the Victorian Electoral Commission was yet to declare the result but Ms Crugnale expressed her relief and gratitude in a Facebook post at about 6pm on Friday after the final distribution of preferences. 

“It was always going to be close with or without the redistribution and I have never once taken anything for granted. It’s been a privilege and honour to work for and with our community and together we have achieved so much.

“Always more to do - let’s get cracking!”

​After the distribution of preferences, she finished with 20,803 votes (50.24%) to Mr Brown’s 20,601 (49.76%)

​
Labor won the seat in 2018 with a 2.39% majority but following a distribution of the Bass electorate this year it was regarded as nominally Liberal with a 0.7% majority.
Picture
It was always going to be a close contest and was made even more fascinating by the National Party fielding a candidate for only the second time in the history of the electorate.

Brett Tessari attracted 5506 primary votes (13.30%) and these seem to have come equally from Labor and Liberal. The primary vote for both candidates was well down on the 2018 vote.
 
Preferences
 
The distribution of preferences shows a large proportion of voters did not follow the party How to Vote cards but made up their own minds.
 
The two crucial distributions are the final ones, from the Greens’ Callum Bugbird and National’s Brett Tessari.
 
The Greens preferenced Labor ahead of the Liberals and National Party but of their 5049 ballot papers, 35 per cent went to the Nationals (1122) and Liberals (626).
 
Mr Tessari was the final candidate to be excluded. The Nationals preferenced their Coalition partner first but of his 8661 votes 31 per cent (2700) went to Labor and got Ms Crugnale over the line.
 
Non vote increase
 
In 2018, 58,325 voters were enrolled in the Bass electorate and the non-vote was 5214 (8.94%)
 
In 2022, 49,984 voters were enrolled and the non-vote was 5445 (10.89 %), a 21 per cent increase in the proportion of non-voters, or around 1143 voters.
 
At least a proportion of this is due to election day problems, with up to eight voting centres in the Bass electorate running out of ballot papers. Some voters filled in hand-written papers, while others signed a waiver giving up their right to vote.  

Picture
Questions remain over poll chaos
Dec 12, 2022 Despite the election day chaos at local voting centres, the VEC isn’t saying how it got it so wrong. 
​

9 Comments
F W Schooneveldt
10/12/2022 11:20:36 am

Congratulations Jordan. Keep up your good works for the Bass Electorate. You have worked so had for us since being elected but as you say there much more to do. Cheers

Reply
Peter Mckenzie
10/12/2022 05:16:19 pm

Of course the Greens 3,301 preferences were vital to getting Jordan re-elected. Hopefully that will remind her that we want meaningful action on the Westernport Woodlands & abolition of Group Voting tickets.

Reply
Barb Moje
12/12/2022 11:48:50 am

Agree, scraped in - and ON NOTICE, rather than "VICTORY".
Do what you can to save the Woodlands now, Jordan, and find the sand for all the road construction by the Andrews Govt elsewhere. Thank you!

Reply
Ian James
10/12/2022 10:12:11 pm

Peter conveniently forgets the fact that 92% of Bass electors did not vote for the Greens agenda. Voters from across the political spectrum voted for Jordan in recognition of the hard work she has put in to improving conditions for the electors of Bass.

Reply
Sue Saliba
11/12/2022 09:47:14 am

Ian conveniently forgets that barely 50% of the Bass electorate voted for Jordan and that it was the Greens' preferences that got her across the line - without the Greens' preferences she would not have a seat in parliament. The Greens stood for protection of the Woodlands and Jordan has an ethical obligation to do all she can to protect this precious area.

Reply
Sue Saliba
11/12/2022 10:00:38 am

Sorry, it was not 'barely 50%' of the electorate that voted for Jordan but 33%!

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Paul Coulter
11/12/2022 04:25:07 pm

The Greens preferences were all over the place (inconsistent), as they were for many other voters. Despite numerous HTV issued. The National preferences were a good example of that. What was noticeable however, was that the majority of voters preferred the return of their sitting member Jordan Crugnale. Well done Jordan.

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Ian James
13/12/2022 10:52:20 pm

Sue’s reply reveals why voters are turned off by the Greens sanctimonious approach to politics. Who can ever forget their anti environment voting record when they had the power to achieve something worthwhile. Does she believe that Jordan has an ethical obligation to implement National Party policies in recognition of the 2,700 National preferences which flowed to her. Despite Samantha Ratnam heralding a Greenslide on election night the Greens vote stagnated and they gained one seat. At the rate of one seat every four years we will all thankfully be dead before they have any political impact.

Reply
Michael Nugent
16/12/2022 02:45:08 pm

"... we will all thankfully be dead before they [the Greens] have any political impact": Well, I'm hoping to be alive at least until the Greens have overcome frail, silly arguments about them being "sanctimonious" and "anti environment". In any case, having doubled their MPs from 4 to 8 in this election, they are, undoubtedly, already having a serious political impact. And yes Jordan, it would be wise for you to make sure Labor saves the Woodlands.

Reply



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