Victoria hot seats LIVE results: It's decision day in Kooyong, Bruce, Goldstein and Wills
Here's a quick refresher on the margins, history and candidates in our Hot Seat contests.
Wills is our Labor v Greens contest with incumbent Peter Khalil facing off against Samantha Ratnam, a former local mayor and leader of the Greens state parliamentary party.
'Win Bruce, win the election': that was the mantra for hopeful local Liberal Party members heading into the campaign which sees Zahid Safi vying to become the party's first Muslim MP. To do so he'll need to defeat Labor minister Julian Hill.
Goldstein is one of the two teal v Liberal Party seats we've covered. It's a rematch between independent MP Zoe Daniel and Tim Wilson who lost the seat in 2022.
Kooyong is one of the highest profile contests in the country. Teal MP Monique Ryan famously defeated former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in 2022 and faces a strong challenge from the Liberal Party's Amelia Hamer.

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The Age
27 minutes ago
- The Age
Albanese must make Trump an offer he can't refuse
And it's in that second option, change, that there is an opportunity for Anthony Albanese and the Labor government to cement the deal. Put simply, Albanese needs to make AUKUS great again by super-sizing the deal and offering the Trump administration more than was agreed to under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. As a former Defence official, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, puts it, Trump's view is that the AUKUS deal began to be negotiated during his first term before Biden took over and closed the deal. Instinctively, Trump supports AUKUS because of the advantages it offers the United States in terms of additional basing in the Indo-Pacific theatre but 'it now needs to be bigger than the Biden plan', according to the official. 'We can't just offer them more money [Australia has promised to pay the US about $4.5 billion to help ramp up production of the submarines], it has to be bigger than that,' the official said. Loading 'The way to get support for it is to make Trump feel like it is his again. Australia will need to offer something like better facilities at Henderson [the submarine base in Western Australia]; a second graving yard, though they are expensive, would be ideal as it offers maintenance on US submarines and would take the pressure off Guam and Pearl Harbour.' Top US officials, including AUKUS skeptic Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's Deputy Under Secretary of Defence, have spoken recently about the need for increased submarine availability - that is, for the US fleet submarines to be able to spend more time in the water and less time in maintenance. That's where the graving yard - a dry dock that raises submarines out of the water for more involved maintenance work - comes in. One is planned for the Henderson submarine base already but increasing the offer to two, so that US submarines can be serviced in Australia - and spend more time in the water and on duty - is the sort of offer the US would welcome. Albanese's first face-to-face meeting with Trump is expected to take place next week at the G7 summit in Canada. Between now and then, the prime minister and defence officials will be crafting an offer for the US president to consider while the review takes place. The prime minister will not be willing to cede any ground on the sovereign control of the US-made submarines and nor would he be willing to settle for a deal that sees US submarines rotate through Australian ports but for us to miss out on the submarine capability. But if Albanese comes up with an offer to make AUKUS great again, there will be little to worry about in terms of the subs deal proceeding.

Sydney Morning Herald
27 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Albanese must make Trump an offer he can't refuse
And it's in that second option, change, that there is an opportunity for Anthony Albanese and the Labor government to cement the deal. Put simply, Albanese needs to make AUKUS great again by super-sizing the deal and offering the Trump administration more than was agreed to under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. As a former Defence official, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, puts it, Trump's view is that the AUKUS deal began to be negotiated during his first term before Biden took over and closed the deal. Instinctively, Trump supports AUKUS because of the advantages it offers the United States in terms of additional basing in the Indo-Pacific theatre but 'it now needs to be bigger than the Biden plan', according to the official. 'We can't just offer them more money [Australia has promised to pay the US about $4.5 billion to help ramp up production of the submarines], it has to be bigger than that,' the official said. Loading 'The way to get support for it is to make Trump feel like it is his again. Australia will need to offer something like better facilities at Henderson [the submarine base in Western Australia]; a second graving yard, though they are expensive, would be ideal as it offers maintenance on US submarines and would take the pressure off Guam and Pearl Harbour.' Top US officials, including AUKUS skeptic Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's Deputy Under Secretary of Defence, have spoken recently about the need for increased submarine availability - that is, for the US fleet submarines to be able to spend more time in the water and less time in maintenance. That's where the graving yard - a dry dock that raises submarines out of the water for more involved maintenance work - comes in. One is planned for the Henderson submarine base already but increasing the offer to two, so that US submarines can be serviced in Australia - and spend more time in the water and on duty - is the sort of offer the US would welcome. Albanese's first face-to-face meeting with Trump is expected to take place next week at the G7 summit in Canada. Between now and then, the prime minister and defence officials will be crafting an offer for the US president to consider while the review takes place. The prime minister will not be willing to cede any ground on the sovereign control of the US-made submarines and nor would he be willing to settle for a deal that sees US submarines rotate through Australian ports but for us to miss out on the submarine capability. But if Albanese comes up with an offer to make AUKUS great again, there will be little to worry about in terms of the subs deal proceeding.

ABC News
30 minutes ago
- ABC News
Corruption watchdog clears Brittany Higgins's $2.4 million payout
The national anti-corruption body has cleared a settlement paid by the federal government to former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins over corruption claims. Ms Higgins received a $2.4 million payout from the Commonwealth in 2022 as it sought to settle a compensation claim. The former staffer had alleged she was not adequately supported by her then-boss, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, after she made allegations she was raped at Parliament House. Multiple figures had called for the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to investigate the compensation payout, including former opposition leader Peter Dutton and Senator Reynolds. Mr Dutton had accused government figures of "duplicity" and "trickery" in organising the government settlement. "I think there are very serious, very serious allegations here. There's a multi-million-dollar payout," he said in mid-2023. Senator Reynolds had reportedly highlighted concerns about the speed of the mediation process and her exclusion from attending mediation. The NACC on Thursday said an "extensive preliminary investigation" found no evidence of corruption. "There is no evidence that the settlement process, including the legal advice provided, who was present at the mediation, or the amount, was subject to any improper influence by any Commonwealth public official," the statement read. "To the contrary, the evidence obtained reflected a process that was based on independent external legal advice, without any inappropriate intervention by any minister of either government. "There is therefore no corruption issue." The anti-corruption body said it made multiple "notices to produce" to various departments and lawyers, and analysed thousands of documents relating to the settlement. It found the initial legal advice on a settlement was provided to the Morrison government before the 2022 election. Advice later obtained by the Albanese government was "not materially different" and there was no difference in the approach taken by either government towards pursuing a settlement. The NACC also took no issue with the mediation conference lasting less than a day, finding that was not unusual given the substantial work done in the lead-up to mediation and efforts to "[avoid] ongoing trauma to Ms Higgins". It also found the $2.4 million settlement amount was "less than the maximum amount recommended by the external independent legal advice".