By STEFAN BRADLEY and AIDAN KNIGHT

 

IT is party official.

There are five candidates for the seat of Gippsland, and we now know where their names will be on the ballot at next month’s federal election.

The Australian Electoral Commission held the ballot draw at their Sale office on Friday.

Sonny Stephens from the Australian Labor Party drew the top spot on the ballot.

Greg Hansford, representing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, was second, and was also the only candidate present at the draw.

Mr Hansford said it was disappointing the other candidates didn’t show up.

“I think it sort of shows how Gippsland people are being taken for granted,” he said.

At the last election, Mr Hansford was first on the ballot. He said while people told him the top spot would “add a few extra points” to his vote percentage, he downplayed the impact of the ballot position.

“I think people just voted. Looking at the second and third and fourth preferences, I did very, very well in those. So we got a good primary vote, the highest for One Nation, in Victoria – 9.4 per cent,” Mr Hansford said.

Mr Hansford also revealed a preference deal with the Libertarians for the seat, with the candidates to place the other party second on their how-to-vote cards.

Gippsland is one of the safest Nationals seats in the country.

Gippsland Ballot Draw: 1. Sonny Stephens (Australian Labor Party); 2. Gregory Hansford (Pauline Hanson’s One Nation); 3. Rochelle Hine (Australian Greens); 4. Darren Chester (The Nationals); 5. Simon Wilson (Libertarian).

 

THE Monash draw was held at the AEC’s Warragul office.

The ballot draw saw eight of the nine candidates vying for a spot attend, revealing that Monash’s representative for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Kuljeet Kaur Robinson, will be the first name on the ballot at the 2025 federal election.

When prompted by the Express for her feelings on the top spot, Ms Kaur Robinson expressed: “I love Moe,” before confirming “I do feel really good, I am not counting on the order of the names being a huge difference, but I do feel good.”

Each of the nine candidates have 20 days to win the attention and personal interests of voters across the division, which was expanded in the 2018 redistribution to Phillip Island, now covering a huge slice of the state, second only in size to Gippsland and Mallee.

The diverse geographic areas contained within Monash, from suburban fringe to the Bass Coast, make it one of an eclectic mix when it comes to what voters value at election time.

Monash has traditionally been a safe Liberal seat, although its margin dropped from 6.9 per cent to 2.9 at the 2022 election.

Monash Ballot Draw: 1. Kuljeet Kaur Robinson (Pauline Hanson’s One Nation); 2. Tully Fletcher (Australian Labor Party); 3. Russell Broadbent (Independent); 4. Mary Aldred (Liberal Party of Australia); 5. Deb Leonard (Independent); 6. Geoffrey Dethlefs (Family First Party Australia); 7. David O’Reilly (Legalise Cannibis Party); 8. Terrence Steele (Australian Greens); 9. Alex Wehbe (Trumpets of the Patriots).

 

IN the end, the order of the names on the voting slip only matters if the voter chooses to ‘donkey vote’ (vote in order of how names appear). All preferences must by filed correctly for the voter’s choice to count.

The 2025 federal election will take place on Saturday, May 3.