One Nation Drops Preston Candidate Over Holocaust Comments Before Victorian Election
One Nation has dropped its candidate for the Melbourne seat of Preston weeks before the Victorian election, citing offensive Holocaust comments posted on social media. Major parties are also locking in preference deals as campaigning intensifies.
One Nation has dumped its candidate for the Victorian seat of Preston, citing offensive comments about the Holocaust the candidate made on social media. The party moved just weeks out from the state election.
Preston is one of the contests now being fought as the major parties ramp up their campaigns.
Campaign trail heats up
Federal Liberal leader Angus Taylor visited Melbourne to back Opposition Leader Jess Wilson's campaign. Wilson needs to gain an extra 16 seats to form a majority.
Meanwhile, the Big Build royal commission has begun calling its first witnesses in public hearings in Melbourne.
Preference deals take shape
Labor looks set to deny the Greens its preferences in the battleground seat of Prahran. The Liberal Party is expected to direct supporters to put Labor ahead of the Greens in most inner-city seats, including Richmond and Melbourne.
A party needs 45 seats to form government. Labor will run an open ticket, meaning it will not tell supporters where to direct their remaining votes, in the Liberal-held seats of Prahran and Caulfield.
The Liberals should easily retain Caulfield, held by deputy leader David Southwick. Prahran, by contrast, always goes down to preferences.
Labor previously gave its preferences to the Greens there, which helped the minor party claim the seat. The Greens lost Prahran last year when Labor sat out of a by-election and the party missed the preferences it needed.
The open ticket will likely hurt the Greens' chances of winning the seat back. It should also boost the hopes of local Liberal member Rachel Westaway.
The Liberals are expected to preference Labor above the Greens in every inner-city seat except Brunswick, held by the Greens, and Footscray, held by Labor. They are expected to run an open ticket in those two.
That should help Labor in Northcote, which it holds by a razor-thin margin. It also lifts Labor's chances of flipping Greens-held seats such as Richmond and Melbourne.
The Greens expect to retain Brunswick. They are competitive in Labor's inner-west seat of Footscray, as are the Victorian Socialists, and are also eyeing Pascoe Vale.
Royal commission hears from workers
The royal commission into the CFMEU and Victoria's Big Build projects heard that a site supervisor suspected the union had an agenda. The union had raised 31 safety concerns in a week at Sunbury.
Workers told the commission that after the union took control of the site, they were forced to join the CFMEU. They said they also had to make bank transfers to pay union fees upfront.
Separately, a man charged with assaulting a One Nation volunteer in Torquay has appeared in court.
