General News
26 March, 2025
Four nominated for Mallee seat
The list of potential candidates for the upcoming federal election is taking shape, with only one major party yet to announce a candidate.
With just eight weeks until May 17, the last day an election can be held, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to reveal a preferred date in the coming weeks.
However, his party has not yet nominated a challenger for incumbent MP Dr Anne Webster.
Dr Webster, a member of the Nationals Party, has held the seat for the past six years and enjoys a comfortable 19 per cent margin over competitors.
In the 2022 election, eight candidates contested the seat, with Dr Webster securing 69 per cent of the two-party preferred vote against Labor’s Carole Hart.
Independent candidate Sophie Baldwin, a former dairy farmer from Cohuna, received over 10 per cent of the first preference votes and has not yet announced whether she will run again.
Additionally, Stuart King from the United Australia Party, who gained 9.1 per cent of the vote, has yet to confirm his candidacy.
So far, Nicole Rowan from the Greens, Chris Lahy of the Australian Citizens’ Party, and Vaughn Williams from One Nation have officially launched their campaigns.
Clive Palmer’s new party, Trumpet of Patriots, previously the United Australia Party, is expected to nominate a candidate.
A Country Party/Nationals stronghold since it was created in 1949, the federal division of Malle is Victoria’s largest electorate.
It covers more than one-third of the state (84,000 square kilometres), stretching from Mildura and Swan Hill along the Murray River down to Edenhope, Stawell and Maryborough.
Likewise, the nominees come from vastly different areas.
With his sixth nomination, Lake Boga’s Mr Lahy is no stranger to Mallee voters.
The carer and part-time gardener ran in the 2007, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022 elections and aims to be an alternative to the major parties.
The Greens candidate, Ms Rowan, grew up on a sheep and wheat farm near Woomelang and was educated in Sea Lake.
A former City of Greater Bendigo councillor, Vaughan Williams from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation part, grew up in Clear Lake.
Federal elections are traditionally announced on a Sunday by the prime minister.
The law requires an election period to be at least 33 days long, making Sunday, April 12, the last day for Mr Albanese to nominate a day.