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www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
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FRIDAY, November 25, 2022
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Rees aims for fifth term
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Braden to play club game 300 Page 3
12 Page Feature
Sport
TIME FOR ACTION TARRAWINGEE community members (from left) Paul Ferguson, Allan Hooper, Steve Cole and Tony Readhead say their town is being flooded because of a chokepoint at the Hodgsons Creek bridge on the Great Alpine Road. They are pictured with debris excavated from underneath the bridge, blamed for the latest flooding incident last week.  Story page 2. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
Need ‘a miracle’ LLabor b candidate’s did t ’ frank f k admission: d i i p party ty a llongshot g h t tto win i seatt ffrom N Nationals ti l
LABOR candidate Zuvele Leschen concedes she needs “a small miracle” to beat Nationals‘ incumbent Tim McCurdy for the seat of Ovens Valley. More than half of the electorate’s 40,000 or so voters have already cast their vote, with thousands more expected at pre–poll sta-
BY STEVE KELLY skelly@ nemedia.com.au
tions today in Wangaratta and Yarrawonga, ahead of the official election day tomorrow. Mr McCurdy remains
an unbackable favourite to retain the seat for a fourth consecutive term, with Labor needing a 25 per cent swing on two party preferred figures from the last election. In 2018 Independent candidate Tammy Atkins won more than 19 per cent of the primary vote, and the
absence of an Independent candidate in this election throws open the question of whether smaller or major parties will be the beneficiaries. Mr McCurdy remains confident, noting he had seen a lot of “anti–Daniel Andrews” sentiment at pre– poll stations among voters
over the past two weeks. Ms Leschen said she’s not ruling out a swing towards Labor locally, but admits her campaign began “far too late” due to “a mix–up at head office” after another candidate fell through. “They (Labor head office) thought they had a candidate, then they didn’t,
and then they didn’t tell anyone,” she said. “I think part of the reason Labor was holding back was because they would like to see an Independent in the field to shake the vote up again.” ■ Further state election coverage pages 4, 5. ■ Candidates’ Q&A page 14
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