He polled 76 per cent of the vote and won every booth in the vast electorate for the Nationals.

Likewise in blue-ribbon Wannon, Dan Tehan walked in with 46 per cent of the primary vote. There was a 6.3 per cent swing against the Liberals, although that could be explained by the loss of retiring David Hawker's personal vote.

Unfortunately it is a recurring theme in western Victoria.

Even with a record-breaking eight-month election campaign, we are unlikely to see either Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Opposition leader Tony Abbott spruiking their policies during a barnstorming tour of either Mallee or Wannon.

We would love to be proved wrong, but the feeling is that we are in a political backwater, if not a political black hole, where our vote is sucked in and no light returns where our vote has little influence on election night and where our vote has no influence on what happens in Canberra.

Oh for a hard-fought election campaign, with strong candidates all the way down the ballot paper.