Live: Greens blast Labor over preferences ahead of Victorian election battle

Victorians will cast their votes on November 28 to determine who will hold the balance of power in the state for the next four years. While Labor and the Liberals have been traveling across the state on campaign buses for crucial seats, they will pause their travels today to honor Remembrance Day. Central Victoria residents are outraged over the closure of three local polling booths, which they describe as a "kick in the teeth" for rural communities.

Voters in these areas will face longer journeys to cast their ballots in the upcoming state election. According to data from the Victorian Electoral Commission, 36 regional towns that had a polling booth in the 2022 state election will not have one within five kilometers for this election. In nine of those towns, the nearest voting center is at least 10 kilometers away. The ABC's Nate Woodall and Fiona Parker report on this issue.

Bentleigh, a historically significant bellwether seat held by the governing party for nearly all of the past 60 years, is currently a key focus. Labor has won this seat at five of the last six elections this century, with Nick Staikos as the current MP. Staikos, who serves as the housing minister and has held various ministerial positions, is the preferred candidate in Bentleigh, having won a significant number of votes in recent elections.

However, the Frankston train line, which has played a significant role in determining government, has more Liberal-leaning demographics the closer it is to the city center. Bentleigh, being the closest of the four seats on this line, has the 17th-highest personal incomes in the state compared to the 56th-ranked Frankston at the end of the line.

The Victorian Greens have criticized Labor's decision to deny them preferences in the key election seat of Prahran, seeing it as a betrayal given the historical support Labor received from the Greens in 2014.