Collapsing support for Bill Shorten in his home state has forced a rethink of the way the major parties will fight the federal election in Victoria.
The Labor Party has all but surrendered ambitions of winning the crucial eastern suburbs Liberal-held marginal of Deakin and has switched its focus to battler areas most exposed to any rise in the GST.
Labor has reported that a GST scare campaign in the knife-edge ALP seat of McEwen (0.2 per cent) is resonating.
Unions, meanwhile, continue to target the marginal Liberal seat of Corangamite, held by the Liberal Partys Sarah Henderson.
On current polling, Ms Henderson - who is seen as a hard-working local MP - would still hold on to the electorate.
Corangamite, which includes parts of the Greater City of is also seen as being susceptible to a cost-of-living amid suggestions that the GST rate could rise to 15 per cent under a re-elected Turnbull government.
