{"id":174333,"date":"2025-02-10T16:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T06:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=174333"},"modified":"2025-02-10T16:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T06:27:24","slug":"voters-send-allan-government-a-message-in-werribee-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=174333","title":{"rendered":"Voters send Allan government a message in Werribee by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Victorians have sent a message to the Allan government with voters abandoning Labor in its previously safe seat of Werribee, while the Victorian Liberals have pulled ahead of the Greens in Prahran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By-elections were held in both Melbourne seats on Saturday, with results on a knife edge when the VEC ceased counting in the early hours of Sunday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Labor Premier Jacinta Allan said by-elections gave an opportunity to send a message to the government as she pledged to “do more”. Picture: Jake Nowakowski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Werribee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labor has held Werribee since 1973, with outgoing MP and former treasurer Tim Pallas winning with a 10.9 per cent margin at the 2022 state election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But voters in the outer western Melbourne seat have abandoned the party in droves, with Labor\u2019s primary vote falling from 45.4 per cent to just 28.7 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victorian Liberal candidate Steve Murphy picked up a 3.7 per cent swing in primary vote for the opposition, with a range of minor parties including Legalise Cannabis Victoria, the Victorian Socialists, and Family First all also picking up votes.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Werribee by Election. State opposition leader Brad Battin hands out how to vote flyers at the polling booth at Manor Lakes P-12 College. Picture: Ian Currie. Picture: Ian Currie<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just over 75 per cent of votes counted, Labor\u2019s John Lister holds a narrow 2PP lead of 50.5 per cent to 49.5 for the Liberal candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan told party faithful that things were \u201cvery, very tight\u201d and the seat was likely to go \u201cdown to the wire\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Premier said by-elections gave an opportunity to send a message to the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prahran<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A by-election was also held in the Greens\u2019 held seat of Prahran, in Melbourne\u2019s inner south, after former deputy leader Sam Hibbins resigned after admitting he had a consensual relationship with a member of his staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labor declined to run a candidate in the seat, which is one of the few Greens vs Liberal seats in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just over two-thirds of the vote counted, Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway holds a 2PP lead of 51.6 per cent to the Greens\u2019 48.4 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo currently sits on a primary vote of 36.1 per cent, narrowly down from the party\u2019s result of 36.4 per cent in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo currently sits on a primary vote of 36.1 per cent but is behind on two-party preferred. Picture: NewsWire\/ David Crosling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However the Liberal\u2019s Rachel Westaway has picked up a 5.1 per cent swing, with a primary vote of 36.2 per cent, while Independent and former Labor MP for Prahran Tony Lupton picked up 12.8 per cent of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition Leader Brad Battin said late on Saturday that the party was \u201cincreasingly confident\u201d of winning the seat, although he stopped short of declaring victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of postal votes outstanding,\u201d Mr Battin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt this very point we are increasingly confident that Rachel Westaway has done enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sky News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Voters in Melbourne’s outer west have sent a message to Jacinta Allan’s government by abandoning Labor at the Werribee by-election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":171323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,999,35],"tags":[8634,993,8,15224],"class_list":["post-174333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-australia-politics","category-breaking-news","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria","tag-werribee-bi-election"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t