A former CEO and a local mayor are among the new faces competing for two very different Gippsland seats

After 16 years in parliament, Nationals Party member Tim Bull will not recontest his electorate in the upcoming November poll.

Author

Jacob Wallace
May 20, 2026

Gippsland East Nationals Victorian MP Tim Bull has announced he will not recontest his seat in the November state election after 16 years in parliament.

What happened: Bull’s decision, announced on Tuesday, leaves two Gippsland electorates - Bass and Gippsland East - open to fresh faces at the upcoming state election.

  • Bass Labor MP Jordan Crugnale announced she would not seek reelection in October last year.

What’s the difference: In 2022, Bass was narrowly held by the Labor Party while the Nationals won Gippsland East with a two-party preferred vote of 73.92 percent.

With two starkly different seats looking for new MPs, the Monitor has put together a short list of who is stepping up to run in Bass – and what the polling looks like in Gippsland East six months before polling day.

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What’s going on in Bass?

Jordan Crugnale was elected to the Victorian Parliament as the Labor member for Bass in 2018 and won the seat again in 2022 by 0.4 percent of the two-party preferred vote. 

  • The Labor MP only narrowly beat the Liberal Party candidate Aaron Brown.

Who are the new candidates hoping to take over?

  • In November 2025, the Labor Party announced Chris Buckingham, the former CEO of Latrobe Valley Authority and facilitator at Gippsland Women’s Health, as its candidate for the seat.

  • In April, the Liberal Party selected Bass Coast Shire Mayor, Rochelle Halstead, as its candidate.

  • The Greens Party has announced Sophie Thorn, a local mental health worker who was born and raised in Bass as its candidate.

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What’s going on in East Gippsland?

Tim Bull has held the East Gippsland seat for the National Party since 2010, when he defeated then-independent MP Craig Ingram.

  • In the 2022 election, Bull held the seat with a massive two-party preferred vote of 73.92 percent.

With Bull announcing his retirement this week, the National Party will be searching for a replacement candidate.

Numbers: In 2022, the National Party in Victoria increased its numbers in the lower house - winning three seats from independents.

  • Bull's retirement comes as One Nation support around the state is growing, potentially threatening National’s seats.

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Elsewhere: One Nation picked up four seats in the South Australian state election in April with the second-highest primary vote behind Labor at 22.9 percent.

No candidates have been announced from Labor, the Greens or One Nation for Gippsland East at this stage.

Independent options: The community group Gippsland East Matters says it's searching for an independent candidate to run at the upcoming election.

Bull said at a press conference about his retirement that he planned to spend more time with his family and volunteer to take young people across the Kokoda Track with a local community organisation.