In the suburban Melbourne electorate of Aston, many people are far more concerned about how they’ll feed their families and afford their mortgage repayments than the unexpected return of federal politics.
Despite relatively few campaign signs in the area, the high-stakes byelection in Aston – triggered by the resignation in February of the former Liberal cabinet minister Alan Tudge – is just weeks away. It’s been cast as a test of the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, in a state where the Liberal party has fared poorly in recent elections.
