Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh will contest his sixth state election on November 26 and not a lot is expected to change from previously one-sided results.
At this stage he has just two opponents for the poll, with the Greens and Labor Party announcing they will field a candidate in Murray Plains.
Later this week he will have a more complete picture of his opposition at the election, with at least half a dozen candidates expected to stand.
A final field of candidates will be available at noon on Friday, when nominations close for the 40 upper house seats (Northern Victoria’s five seats are presently held by representatives of Labor, the Liberals, Liberal Democrats and Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party) and the 88 lower house seats (including Murray Plains, which is held by Mr Walsh).
The Greens have announced John Brownstein as their candidate for the seat of Murray Plains.
Mr Brownstein moved to the area in 2012 for work and to support his elderly parents.
A former mayor of the Benalla Rural City, he has spent the majority of his working career in education as a secondary school teacher and principal.
Labor’s candidate at the election is Damien Hurrell.
Mr Walsh first won office at the 2002 election, representing the Swan Hill electorate until 2014.
Prior to his political career he was president of the Victorian Farmers Federation for a four-year period, having previously operated a farm and sat on several agriculturally based boards and national organisations.
Mr Walsh, now 68, has been involved in several landslide election wins, having first been elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2002 and re-elected at the 2006 and 2010 elections, with a 79.3 per cent two-party preferred vote in 2010.
In spite of the Coalition losing government at the 2014 election and the Nationals suffering a significant dent in their hold on traditional seats in 2018, Mr Walsh has held his seat comfortably.
Murray Plains, which takes in Swan Hill and Kerang, extends along the Murray River from Undera to Nyah and west to Boort, Ninyeunook and Waitchie.
At the 2014 poll Mr Walsh polled 63.27 per cent of the primary vote, opposed to the ALP’s Peter Williams (20.4 per cent), Australian Country Alliance’s Byron Winn (7.42 per cent), Greens candidate Ian Christie, Rise Up Australia’s Laurie Wintle and independent Nigel Hicks.
In 2018 he was opposed again by Mr Williams from Labor, along with candidates from the Greens and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party. He secured 60.33 per cent of the vote, which was a three per cent fall on the 2014 result
Northern Victoria, the Legislative Council seat for the region, is held by Labor’s Mark Gepp and Jaclyn Symes, Wendy Lovell (Liberal), Tim Quilty (Liberal Democrats) and Tania Maxwell (Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party).