NINE candidates will contest the Niddrie byelection, with a late rush of nominations adding renewed interest in the March 24 poll.
The Australian Greens, Australian Labor Party, Sex Party, Democratic Labor Party, Christian Party and four independents will now fight it out for the seat vacated by former deputy premier Rob Hulls.
Of the independents, only Jim Little has stood before, at the November 2010 state election where he attracted 4.8 per cent of the first preference vote.
At the time, Mr Little was prominent in a residents’ campaign against a proposed high-density Vic Urban development in Avondale Heights which was eventually quashed.
He said that was not the basis for his standing in 2010, and a single issue was not the basis of his campaign now.
He said the nature of Niddrie was changing and infrastructure needed to change with it.
“There are a number of infrastructure issues that concern me, including traffic plans, care of our elderly and education.
”My whole thing is when we get elected we should service who elected us first.”
The other independents standing are Gerrit Schorel-Hlavka, David Linaker and Andrea Surace.
With no Liberal candidate standing, Monash University’s senior politics lecturer Dr Paul Strangio said unless an independent had a very high local profile he found it hard to see the Labor seat changing hands.
“It’s a cautious decision for the Liberals to not stand a candidate. [When predicting an outcome] you shouldn’t get too distracted by the numbers of candidates unless there’s a independent with a particularly high profile or attached to a major issue.”
