WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR ....
What a week it has been in politics.
Bendigo wasn't just the centre of Victoria geographically this week, it was also the centre of Victoria politically as the water issue finally began to eat up column inches in the metropolitan press.
The week started and ended with a bit of election warfare.
Last Friday the two main parties jostled for position in Hargreaves Mall to hand out their pamphlets.
For the past month or so Liberal candidate for Bendigo West Bruce McClure has been handing out his pamphlets with help from a couple of local volunteers.
Last Friday, they were joined by Bob and Jacinta and the tactical battle for prized positions began.
It might take a bit more than this to improve Ted's election chances. Photo: Andrew Perryman
As one punter put it the two groups battled over the top spot outside Killians Walk, a battle that only ended when the two ALP ministers retreated (read: Had lunch at much ado about muffins?).
When the Weekly left them the two groups were separated like fighting children, with an acceptable space between them.
Speaking of children, Sunday saw the launch of the Family First campaign at the botanic gardens with a child-friendly family day.
The Nationals were the next to officially launch their campaign. Leader Peter Ryan visited on Monday to announce Glen Murrells as their candidate for Bendigo West.
That immediately prompted a war of words with Bob Cameron claiming Glen did not live in the electorate.
Bob is a stone thrower from way back, but this time he managed to smash more than one window in his glass house.
Labor's number one candidate in Bendigo's upper house seat of Northern Region and local government and housing minister Candy Broad currently lives in Melbourne.
However, she has said she would move to Hepburn after the election. It's a pity that's not in the electorate either.
The campaign was stopped in its tracks by the announcement 380 jobs would go when AAPT closes its Bendigo call centre over the next 12 months.
While not an election issue per se, it will be something the politicians are called on to do something about.
During the news of the job losses we continued to see press releases from the government about keeping provincial Victoria strong, moving forward, creating jobs et cetera.
Water fight. Denis Napthine discusses his water policy with a vocal local. Photo: Andrew Perryman
If federal Labor can criticise the Howard government for promising to keep interest rates low and then presiding over four hikes in a row, does that mean we can blame the state government for promising jobs growth and then seeing massive job losses at Empire Rubber and AAPT?
The attention focussed on the two main political leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday as they both strolled into town for water announcements.
Ted Baillieu was ambushed by the local ALP branch when he finally announced the Liberals' water policy at Rosalind Park.
While his policy leaked like a sieve, it was designed to please the irrigators up north, as well as guarantee water for our pipeline, not an easy thing to do.
Premier Steve Bracks and water minister John Thwaites also attempted to placate irrigators at an announcement at Lake Eppalock.
The pair was joined by Bob and Jacinta as they walked across the dry lake bed, which was full until people tried to placate irrigators.
That should put a target on my back.
