Legislative Council: South Eastern Metropolitan

South-Eastern Metropolitan covers the bayside from Cheltenham south to Frankston, and extends inland to Lysterfield, Narre Warren and Cranbourne. The redistribution has transferred the Mount Waverley electorate out of the region and added the new seat of Rowville, bringing to the it the southern parts of abolished Scoresby and redrawn Ferntree Gully, without having much impact on the balance of support between the parties. Based on 2010 election results, seven of its 11 lower house seats were won by Labor and four by the Liberals, which included three of the highly marginal “sandbelt” seats (Carrum, Mordialloc and Frankston).

The result in South-Eastern Metropolitan at both 2006 and 2010 elections was three Labor and two Liberal. The scenarios most likely to disturb this state of affairs are a drop in the Liberal vote sufficient to create an opportunity for a micro-party, or an increase in the Greens vote substantial enough to secure them a seat at Labor’s expense.

The business end of the Liberal ticket has been unchanged over three elections, with the top two elections occupied by Gordon Rich-Phillips and Inga Peulich. Gordon Rich-Phillips entered parliament in 1999 at the age of 25 after winning preselection for Eumemmering province ahead of controversial former federal MP Ken Aldred, and has served as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Technology and the Aviation Industry since the election of the Baillieu government in late 2010.

Inga Peulich first entered parliament in the lower house seat of Bentleigh in 1992, but was unseated in the 2002 landslide. She then secured a safer position at number two on South Eastern Metropolitan ticket in 2006, which she has since retained. Peulich attained the position of parliamentary secretary for education when the Baillieu government came to power, and was promoted to Cabinet Secretary in March 2014. She was born in Bosnia, and came to Australia in 1967 at the age of eleven.

The top three positions on the Labor ticket are unchanged from 2010, and the top two are also as they were in 2006. At number one is Gavin Jennings, a powerful figure within the Socialist Left faction. Jennings worked for various unions and as an adviser to premiers John Cain and Joan Kirner before entering parliament at the 1999 election, when he was preselected for his faction’s upper house fiefdom of Melbourne province ahead of Dick Wynne, now the member for Richmond. He immediately attained the positions of deputy Labor leader in the upper house, which he has maintained ever since, and Cabinet Secretary in the newly elected Bracks government, and was further promoted to Aged Care and Aboriginal Affairs Minister after the 2002 election, exchanging aged care for community services after the 2006 election and Aboriginal affairs for environment and innovation when John Brumby succeeded Steve Bracks in August 2007. In opposition he has served as Shadow Health Minister, acquiring a further ambulance services portfolio in December 2013.

In second place is Adem Somyurek, a Right faction member of Turkish background who won a seat in Eumemmerring province in 2002, having previously been an adviser to federal Holt MP Anthony Byrne. He went on to secure second position in South-Eastern Metropolitan in 2006, which he has retained at the two elections since. Following the 2010 election defeat he was promoted to shadow cabinet in the technology, manufacturing and electoral reform portfolios, further gaining government procurement in February 2013.

Labor’s third candidate is Lee Tarlamis, a Socialist Left member and former electorate officer to Daniel Andrews who maintains the position from which he was elected in 2010. On that occasion he replaced Bob Smith, a former state secretary of the Right faction Australian Workers Union, who was at first pencilled in to move to the safe position at the top of the Western Metropolitan ticket vacated by Justin Madden’s move to the lower house seat of Essendon. However, involvement in an expenses scandal combined with a determination to accommodate Martin Pakula saw Smith relegated to number three, which unlike his existing position in South Eastern Metropolitan proved to be a losing prospect.

Other candidates: The Greens candidate is Nina Springle, who describes herself as a freelance facilitator and community educator. Springle was the Greens candidate for the Lyndhurst by-election in February 2013.

Simplified preference tickets

Excluded from consideration: the top two Coalition and Labor candidates.

Sex Party: Liberal Democratic; Voluntary Euthanasia; Animal Justice; Cyclists; Greens; Labor; People Power; Liberal; Palmer United; Shooters And Fishers; Australian Christians; DLP; Family First; Rise Up Australia.
Australian Christians: Rise Up Australia; DLP; Liberal; Family First; People Power; Shooters And Fishers; Cyclists; Palmer United; Labor; Liberal Democratic; Animal Justice; Greens; Voluntary Euthanasia; Sex Party.
Labor: People Power; Sex Party; Animal Justice; Palmer United; Greens; Cyclists; DLP; Voluntary Euthanasia; Liberal Democratic; Shooters And Fishers; Family First; Liberal; Australian Christians; Rise Up Australia.
Voluntary Euthanasia: Sex Party; Liberal Democratic; Cyclists; Greens; Animal Justice; Labor; Australian Christians; Shooters And Fishers; Liberal; DLP; Rise Up Australia; People Power; Family First; Palmer United.
Animal Justice: People Power; Cyclists; Voluntary Euthanasia; Sex Party; Greens; Labor; Liberal; Liberal Democratic; Palmer United; Family First; DLP; Australian Christians; Rise Up Australia; Shooters And Fishers.
DLP: Rise Up Australia; Australian Christians; People Power; Family First; Shooters And Fishers; Liberal Democratic; Liberal; Labor; Palmer United; Cyclists; Animal Justice; Voluntary Euthanasia; Sex Party; Greens.
Rise Up Australia: Australian Christians; Liberal Democratic; DLP; People Power; Family First; Shooters And Fishers; Liberal; Labor; Animal Justice; Sex Party; Voluntary Euthanasia; Palmer United; Cyclists; Greens.
People Power: Rise Up Australia; Liberal Democratic; Animal Justice; DLP; Australian Christians; Family First; Cyclists; Shooters And Fishers; Greens; Voluntary Euthanasia; Sex Party; Labor; Liberal; Palmer United.
Family First: Rise Up Australia; Australian Christians; DLP; Shooters And Fishers; Liberal Democratic; Palmer United; Liberal; People Power; Cyclists; Labor; Animal Justice; Greens; Voluntary Euthanasia; Sex Party.
Palmer United: Shooters And Fishers; Australian Christians; Animal Justice; Greens; Liberal; Labor; Cyclists; Sex Party; People Power; Rise Up Australia; Family First; DLP; Voluntary Euthanasia; Liberal Democratic.
Cyclists: People Power; Greens; Liberal Democratic; Labor; Sex Party; Liberal; Palmer United; Voluntary Euthanasia; Animal Justice; DLP; Shooters And Fishers; Australian Christians; Family First; Rise Up Australia.
Liberal: Australian Christians; Family First; People Power; Shooters And Fishers; Liberal Democratic; Palmer United; DLP; Sex Party; Cyclists; Voluntary Euthanasia; Animal Justice; Labor; Rise Up Australia; Greens.
Liberal Democratic: Voluntary Euthanasia; Rise Up Australia; Sex Party; DLP; Shooters And Fishers; Family First; People Power; Australian Christians; Cyclists; Labor; Liberal; Palmer United; Greens; Animal Justice.
Shooters And Fishers: Rise Up Australia; Liberal Democratic; Cyclists; DLP; People Power; Australian Christians; Palmer United; Family First; Sex Party; Liberal; Labor; Voluntary Euthanasia; Animal Justice; Greens.
Greens: Animal Justice; Cyclists; Voluntary Euthanasia; Sex Party; People Power; Palmer United; Labor; Liberal Democratic; Liberal; Family First; DLP; Shooters And Fishers; Australian Christians; Rise Up Australia.