By Esther Lauaki
The race is on in Lalor as candidates gear up for next week’s federal election.
Wyndham residents have a field of six candidates to choose from on May 18.
In the order that they appear on the ballot paper, Susan Jakobi is in for the Australia First Party, Gayle Murphy for Liberal and incumbent Labor party member Joanne Ryan.
Jeffrey Robinson will run for the United Australia Party, Jay Dessi for The Greens and Aijaz Moinuddin for the United People’s Party.
The seat covers 493 square kilometres on the south-western edge of Melbourne taking in parts of Wyndham and includes Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Truganina and parts of Point Cook.
Lalor, considered a safe Labor seat, fell once to the Liberal Party with Harold Holt at the 1966 election.
The Liberal Party’s pre-selected candidate for Lalor, 22-year-old Werribee resident Kate Oski, resigned ahead of the election because she may be able to claim Polish citizenship through her father.
Since 2017, several Australian politicians have been referred to court, resigned or been forced to run for re-election after it emerged they could be ineligible to hold their positions due to section 44 of the constitution, which forbids MPs from having allegiance to a foreign power, especially citizenship.
For a full list of candidates visit: www.aec.gov.au.
