THE battle for Melbourne Ports is on a knife edge this week after recent polling revealed that the Greens candidate Steph Hodgins-May has closed the gap on Labor’s Michael Danby, and possibly pulled ahead.
Danby and Hodgins-May are neck and neck in second spot, but whoever finishes second in the seat’s primary vote could steal the seat from the Liberal Party’s Owen Guest after preferences are distributed.
While the Greens have unequivocally preferenced Labor, Danby has produced two how-to-vote cards against the wishes of his party, encouraging voters in Jewish neighbourhoods to direct their preferences to the Liberal Party, while others preference the Greens.
As a result, Melbourne Ports is one of the only seats in the country where there are three viable candidates who could win.
Read the full report by Joshua Levi in the Australian Jewish News.