An exploding population and dozens of new suburbs on Melbourne’s northern fringe have transformed the seat of McEwen into one of the most critical contests in this year's election. Both the Prime Minister and Opposition leader have been frequent visitors to the part suburban-part regional seat, which the Liberals must win if Peter Dutton has any chance to win.
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00:00It's 4.30 in the afternoon and traffic is all ready at a standstill getting off the Hume in Melbourne's outer north.
00:09Every day it's crazy.
00:11I'm probably waiting here 30 minutes to an hour. It's really bad.
00:16Always bottlenecks all the way here.
00:18How long do you spend in traffic?
00:19Half an hour, an hour a day. Yeah, I'm over it.
00:22Is it going to change your vote at the election?
00:23Probably.
00:24Access to the freeway from dozens of new suburbs is a daily nightmare caused by a population explosion that's reshaped the seat of McEwen.
00:36The electorate takes in new outer suburban estates but also established suburbs like Hurstbridge and growing towns like Gisborne, Romsey and Wallen.
00:45More than half of McEwen voters have a mortgage, a much higher proportion than the rest of the country.
00:49So we are currently in regional Victoria and it looks very much like metropolitan Melbourne.
00:58There are other peri-urban seats like McEwen which are no longer considered safe seats and are changing the political landscape.
01:04I think for the first time in a long time areas like this which have seen massive population growth have unclear voting intentions because we're such a young population.
01:14So 40% of all of us Victorians' children live in the outer suburbs.
01:23McEwen is getting the attention.
01:25At the margin of 3.8%, the Coalition is eyeing it off.
01:29Both leaders have been regular visitors.
01:32Oh, that was a good one.
01:35When was your birthday?
01:37This term, Labor has already spent more than $1 billion on new road connections.
01:40The Coalition has promised $192 million to fix Donnybook Road, although experts warn it will cost much more.
01:48We'll continue to provide funding for Victorian infrastructure, whether it's roads or rail.
01:54I want to build the roads here and the infrastructure here to help families.
02:00How are you, man? Good?
02:00How are you?
02:01Good as well. What's going on?
02:02Rob Mitchell has been the Labor MP since 2010.
02:05Under the former Abbott, Morris and Turnbull governments, we've seen 10 years of neglect.
02:09We have delivered nearly a billion and a quarter of road funding to the seat of McEwen in the area to fix those problems.
02:17But they don't get fixed overnight.
02:19I still think getting out and just chatting to people.
02:21Jason McClintock got into politics after hearing Daniel Andrews criticise small business during the pandemic.
02:27He spent $110,000 of his own money in a failed bid for the state seat of Eltham.
02:32I always back myself. Look at that central corridor, poor planning that's gone on through that, and the road infrastructure is just not there.
02:44Most of the political focus on the McEwen electorate has been along the Hume Corridor, but the electorate is much more diverse than that,
02:50and some voters are concerned that their issues are being ignored.
02:54McEwen takes in sought-after towns like Woodend and Mount Macedon, where other issues are at play.
03:00What are you going to do about climate change?
03:01How are you going to manage those costs?
03:03You're not going to hike reserve bank rates a quarter of a point and suddenly climate change is solved.
03:09Tim Hutchinson has lived in the area for 28 years.
03:13He's frustrated by the dearth of bold policy.
03:15He wants minority government.
03:17I mean, if we had a teal, a genuine teal, that would be an ideal choice, but I don't have that option.
03:24A simple reminder that every vote and every preference counts.
03:31Who has a lot of people who have a lot of value, a simple and critical confidence in the country have been thrown out there.
03:34So, I don't know.
03:35I'm going to make a lot of work.
03:37I don't know.
03:37You're not going to make a lot of work.
03:38That's right.
03:39I don't know.
03:40I don't tell you.
03:41You're not going to make a lot of work.
03:42What do you think?
03:42I don't know.
03:43I don't know.
03:43I'm going to make a lot of work.