Labor’s candidate in the seat of Shepparton may have won only 7.51 per cent of the primary vote in Saturday’s state election, but he says the party has cause for optimism in the region.
While Labor is celebrating an overall victory, retaining power in Victoria for a third straight term, it was not so successful in Shepparton District, trailing well behind the Nationals’ Kim O’Keeffe.
Labor has never won Shepparton and to do so would have to overturn decades-old voting trends, but its candidate on Saturday, Liam Cowan, sees an opportunity for growth by the party in the region given the changing demographics of population centres within the seat.
“I’m really seeing the growth in Tatura as a town in the last few years,” he said.
“Obviously it’s not Labor heartland at this point, but I think there’s a lot of potential for growth in the area for our movement.”
Mr Cowan said he had not found much anti-Dan Andrews sentiment during his campaigning, a claimed movement from which the Coalition and some minor parties had attempted to gain momentum.
“Look, there’s always a couple of people, but I mean, not that much,” he said.
“I think it’s overblown and I think that a lot of it’s just potential media hype around it that’s really pushing it more so than individuals in the public.”
The Shepparton region was always a reliable conservative stronghold, until independent Suzanna Sheed’s two consecutive terms, which ended on Saturday night.
Her main challengers, Ms O’Keeffe for the Nationals and Cheryl Hammer for the Liberals, were backed by well-funded and organised campaigns.
In contrast, Mr Cowan declined interview requests and invitations to take part in candidate forums.
That limited campaign and, perhaps history, combined to relegate Labor’s primary vote to fourth, trailing behind the Nationals, Ms Sheed and the Liberals.