THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

IVANHOE
Labor 12.5%

Ivanhoe covers suburbs to the west of Plenty River about 15 kilometres north-east of the city, from Ivanhoe itself out to Heidelberg, Rosanna and View Bank. The electorate was created in 1945 and changed hands along with the changes of government in 1955 and 1982; it has since behaved somewhat unusually in falling to the Liberals in 1985 and to Labor in 1996 (a redistribution having weakened the Liberals' position in the interim). The member since 1996 has been Labor whip Craig Langdon (left), a former Heidelberg councillor aligned with the Labor Unity (Right) faction. Langdon was the subject of a police investigation earlier this year after Liberal MLC Bill Forwood accused him of charging rent to the ratepayer-funded Bell Street Mall Traders Association, of which Langdon was secretary, for using a room in his electorate office. Ellen Whinnett of the Herald-Sun reported that police interviewed Langdon in August after an audit commissioned by Banyule council "uncovered documents that showed more than $5000 was paid into Mr Langdon's personal re-election bank account" by the Association. The opposition called for an investigation by the Auditor-General after Speaker Judy Maddigan cleared Langdon of breaching parliamentary rules.

The Liberal candidate is Maxwell Gratton (right), a sports administrator and Carlton Football Club activist who paid his dues as the federal candidate for Batman in 2004. Independent candidate Jenny Mulholland is on Banyule City Council, a scene of complicated political rivalries in which Langdon has been an important player. In late 2004 it was alleged by Councillor Sean Rawson that Langdon tried to induce him to drop a defamation action by offering support for his mayoralty bid. Rawson had until recently worked for five years as Langdon's electorate officer, and himself described the circumstances surrounding his departure as "acrimonious". Mulholland was also once reckoned to be an ally of Langdon's, having been a former ALP member and one-time staffer to former Premier John Cain.

A $1.7 billion health package announced by Steve Bracks in the first week of the campaign included creation of an elective surgery centre at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain