Hanson on board for One Nation’s regional roadshow

By Allanah Sciberras in Melbourne

One Nation is bringing its federal star power to regional Victoria as the state election campaign continues to gather pace.

Polling suggests the coalition holds the best chance of forming a majority government on November 28, comfortably leading Labor and One Nation on the primary vote.

But One Nation is hoping to make up ground in the regions, with federal leader Pauline Hanson and state leader Warren Pickering touring Swan Hill and Echuca on Saturday.

The pair will visit the Echuca Moama Agricultural Show, which falls in the Murray Plains electorate held by former Nationals leader Peter Walsh.

There is rising support for One Nation in the seat, which stretches more than 200km along the Murray River, and has only been held by the Nationals.

With the Victorian parliament officially dissolved on Tuesday, the campaign is starting to heat up.

Jess Wilson’s Liberals launched the “Jess Express” on Friday, although the bus hit a rough start after reversing into the awning of a shopfront in Bentleigh in Melbourne’s southeast.

The big blue bus, featuring slogans including ‘dodging Labor’s potholes’, quickly ran into trouble as the driver attempted to reverse parallel park.

Despite the store being closed at the time, the party told journalists that the owners had been contacted to provide details.

Business owner James Oppedisano told 3AW the party had contacted him immediately.

“It’s been peeled back a fair bit. Like it’s definitely going to need to be replaced,” he told 3AW radio on Friday.

On the bus, the party handed journalists safety cards offering a “guide to surviving 12 years of Labor”.

The instructions also asked passengers to remain calm in the event of a financial emergency, along with a warning that motion sickness may be experienced by “Labor’s constant spin”.

In a matter of hours, Labor unveiled its own safety cards for passengers on the Jess Express, warning passengers to be “aware of unexpected turns or erratic driving”.

While the opposition’s campaign got off to a bumpy start, Labor’s big red bus has enjoyed a smoother ride.

Premier Ben Carroll on Friday returned to the Kmart where he got his start to launch the retail chain’s Wishing Tree Appeal.

Mr Carroll then travelled to Dandenong where he committed to building trains, trams and buses in Victoria.