THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

LARA
Labor 22.4%

Lara was created at the 2002 election in place of the abolished Geelong North; it extends far beyond the northern outskirts of Geelong to include Anakie (30 kilometres to the north) and Princes Freeway west of Werribee. Geelong North was held for Labor by Geelong Football Club stalwart Neil Trezise (the father of the current member for Geelong, Ian Trezise) from its creation in 1967 until his retirement in 1992, and henceforth by Peter Loney. Loney announced his retirement in January after it became apparent that he could not survive a preselection challenge from John Eren (right), Turkish-born member for the local upper house province of Geelong since the 2002 election. This marked a victory for Eren's faction (Labor Unity) over Loney's (Socialist Left), part of the same trend of Labor Unity ascendancy in the Geelong area that also allowed Richard Marles to successfully challenge Gavan O'Connor in the federal seat of Corio. This process has predictably generated considerable bitterness, one episode of which involved Eren being accused of using funds from a bank account administered by Marles to fund dummy party memberships. This claim was made by Roxanne Bennett, an ex-girlfriend of Marles who admitted being persuaded to come forward with the allegations by his factional opponents.

At the end of the first week of the campaign, the Geelong Advertiser published a survey of 311 respondents which showed (after distribution of the 22 per cent undecided) Labor leading 50 per cent to 36 per cent on the primary vote, compared with corresponding results from the 2002 election of 66.1 per cent and 25.2 per cent.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain