Welcome to Unipollwatch, a unique exercise in cross-campus cooperation to cover the 2014 Victorian state election. Students at LaTrobe, Melbourne, RMIT and Swinburne Universities are working together to cover some of the most interesting electorates in the lead up to the poll on 29 November 2014.
Each campus will report on at least eight seats. The journalism students will provide analysis of the major local issues, as well as in-depth profiles of the candidates standing in the election.
We’ve partnered with The Age newspaper which will also publish some of the best stories. You’ll find plenty of great material here on the individual electorate pages. There are text stories and video and audio reports, as well as photos.
Why?
State elections don’t tend to get as much coverage as federal elections. And yet, vitally important matters are determined by state governments, including education, health, the environment, transport and law and order. Unipollwatch invites students to report on these important issues in order to gain a better understanding of our political system, as well as the people and parties striving to form government.
As far as we can tell, this is the first time that students from four universities have worked together to cover a state or federal election.
This is a project that is not only of value to the students participating, but we believe it will also be a worthwhile public resource.
Which electorates?
We’re focussing on the most marginal seats. A few other electorates have been included because we think the results will be interesting and deserve attention.