12 races to watch this election

It's going to be an exciting night... if you're into that kind of thing.

teenagers watch TV in suspense

It's the night of nights for political tragics across Australia. Source: Getty Images

Australia's historically long eight-week election campaign is coming to an climactic end, and there's never been a more exciting time to be a political junkie. 

While the main game in town is Turnbull vs Shorten for the prime ministership, there are a huge number of other races to watch in this historic double dissolution, which is all but guaranteed to throw up a couple of surprises. 

Here's The Feed's official 2016 Election Viewing Guide, for your news-junkie pleasure.

The knife-fight for New England: Joyce v Windsor

Barnaby Joyce won the seat of New England for the Nationals after the retirement of Tony Windsor at the last election. This year, Windsor has come out of retirement to re-contest the seat and challenge the Deputy Prime Minister on his home turf.

With polls on a knife-edge in the rural electorate, this race could go either way.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce Source: AAP

The wrangle for Queensland: Hanson v irrelevance

Pauline Hanson is a serial offender when it comes to failed bids for re-election since serving one term in the Federal seat of Oxley from 1996 to 1998.

While she’s come up short before, her One Nation party will potentially pick up one or two senate seats in Queensland as a result of the lower-quotas needed in this double dissolution election.
pauline hanson
She's back... and she's likely to make it to the Senate. Source: SBS

The tussle for Indi: McGowan v Mirabella

Independent MP Cathy McGowan took the Victorian seat from sitting Liberal Sophie Mirabella last election, and Mirabella wants it back. This is a deeply personal battle for Mirabella, who represented the electorate for over a decade, only to be removed by McGowan’s surprise win. Tomorrow we’ll find out if the electorate thinks they made the right choice last time, or if they’re having buyer’s remorse.
Sophie Mirabella
Source: AAP

The Stoush in the South: Xenophon v the world

Nick Xenophon is popular in South Australia, the Liberal Party is not. After the submarines controversy, the withdrawal of the auto-making industry, and the decline in other labor-intensive industries, South Australians appear to be disaffected with the government and are opting for a familiar face instead, Nick Xenophon.

Recent polls suggest the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) may receive up to 25 per cent of the vote statewide. With those numbers, NXT could pick up a number of seats in the Senate, as well as Liberal-held seats in the lower house (potentially Mayo, Grey and/or Barker).
South Australia's Senator Nick Xenophon.
South Australia's Senator Nick Xenophon could be a happy man Saturday night. Source: AAP-Mick Tsikas

The struggle for the Senate: The independents v the government

Senators Jackie Lambie in Tasmania, David Leyonhjelm in New South Wales, Ricky Muir in Victoria, Glen Lazarus in Queensland and Dio Wang in Western Australia will all be fighting for re-election today.

Each of them was elected amid high levels of discontent in the 2013 election, many of them riding on the Palmer United ticket. With new preference rules, this double dissolution election is cutting their term short and putting them back to the people – the government will be hoping as few of these cross-benchers are returned as possible.
Lambie
Tasmania is likely to re-elect Jacqui Lambie to represent them in the Senate. Source: AAP

The mele in Mayo: Briggs v Sharkie

Young Conservative MP Jamie Briggs was forced to resign as a junior minister after reports surfaced of inappropriate conduct with a public servant while on a work trip to Hong Kong. The minister was accused of unsolicited attention, kissing the female diplomatic staffer on the neck and cheek.

The incident – and the popularity of Nick Xenophon’s party – has left his South Australian seat at risk of falling to NXT candidate Rebekha Sharkie.
Jamie Briggs
Source: AAP

The conflict in Cowper: Hartsuyker vs Oakeshott

Rob Oakeshott held the seat of Lyne until his retirement at the last election. The former National is standing again, this time in the New South Wales seat of Cowper, challenging the current National MP Luke Hartsuyker (Oakeshott’s home town was moved into the electorate in a recent redistribution).  

Despite Oakeshott’s late entry into the race, the polls show voters are evenly split and Mr Hartsuyker could be in trouble.
Former independent MP Rob Oakeshott
Former independent Rob Oakeshott may emerge as a surprise winner this election. Source: AAP

The grist for Grey: Ramsey v Broadfoot

A safe Liberal seat for two decades, Grey is another lower-house seat that risks falling to the Nick Xenophon Team. Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey currently holds the seat by a margin of more than 10 per cent, but polling shows NXT could eat away significantly at the Liberal primary vote and win on preferences.

The electorate, which covers much of outback South Australia, has been hit by major economic blows, including the closure of the Leigh Creek coal mine and the Port Augusta power station.
Rowan Ramsey MP
Incumbant MP Rowan Ramsey has a fight on his hands for the rural South Australian seat of Grey.

The battle for Batman: Feeney vs Bhathal

Greens candidate Alex Bhathal is giving Labor MP David Feeney a run for his money in the Melbourne seat of Batman. The MP has lost face over failing to disclose a property he owned, not knowing whether it was negatively geared, and being caught out not knowing whether his party supported the school-kids bonus.

Ms Bhathal  has been using unconventional tactics, such as advertising Mr Feeney’s mixed record on same-sex marriage on Grindr, and tomorrow we’ll see if they’ve paid off.
Alex Bhathal
It's a long-shot, but Alex Bathal for the Greens may pull off an upset win in Batman. Source: Supplied

The fight for Page and Lindsay: Coalition v Labor

Page and Lindsay have been singled out by revered ABC Election Analyst Antony Green as useful bellwether seats to watch in this election. Whichever party wins these seats has a good shot at forming government.

Lindsay encompasses Penrith and surrounding suburbs in Western Sydney, while Page sits on the northern New South Wales coast. Both are currently held by the Coalition.
Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten poses with his campaign bus after visiting Cairns West State School as part of the 2016 election campaign
Both federal leaders have been spending a lot of time campaigning in Western Sydney. Source: AAP

The war for Warringah: Abbott v Matherson

Tony Abbott is almost definitely absolutely for sure going to be re-elected in his safe Liberal seat of Warringah, but that hasn’t stopped a challenge in the Sydney electorate from former Australian Idol host James Mathison.

Despite Mathison’s high hopes for a Bernie Sanders style revolution, there isn’t much suspense in this one – it will be interesting to see how many votes he collects though.
A supplied photo of James Mathison
Source: AAP

The lunge for Leichardt: Entsch vs Howes vs McCarthy

Sitting Liberal MP Warren Entsch has a strong personal following in the Queensland Seat of Leichhardt, but it’s an edge that’s been slipping away as Labor narrows the gap. While he holds the seat by a relatively safe margin, preferencing among other candidates hasn’t been kind to Entsch leaving a narrow chance of surprise upset.

He’s facing Labor’s Sharryn Howes and ‘conservative independent’ Daniel McCarthy.

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Through award winning storytelling, The Feed continues to break new ground with its compelling mix of current affairs, comedy, profiles and investigations. See Different. Know Better. Laugh Harder. Read more about The Feed
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Through award winning storytelling, The Feed continues to break new ground with its compelling mix of current affairs, comedy, profiles and investigations. See Different. Know Better. Laugh Harder.
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6 min read
Published 1 July 2016 7:26pm
Updated 2 July 2016 1:04pm
By Ben Winsor
Source: The Feed


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