Prahran is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It was created by the Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888,[1] taking effect at the 1889 elections. The electorate is the state’s smallest by area, covering a little under 11 km2 in the inner south-east of Melbourne. It includes the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor, as well as parts of Southbank, St Kilda and St Kilda East.

Overview

Prahran has tended to be a marginal seat throughout its existence, repeatedly changing between the Labor Party and its successive conservative rivals. It has not, however, been a bellwether seat, as the changes of party control have often not coincided with changes of government. In the 1980s and 1990s, the electorate became gradually more conservative as a result of increasing gentrification in the inner suburbs, resulting in seventeen years of Liberal control from 1985 until 2002. This trend was broken in the 2002 election, which saw popular local member and shadow minister Leonie Burke defeated by Labor rising star Tony Lupton on an unexpectedly large swing, even allowing for Labor's massive win that year. The seat has since become increasingly progressive, having been won by either Labor or the Greens in five out of the last six elections while the Liberal Party's primary vote has declined from slightly above the state average to significantly below the state average.

The seat was strongly targeted by the Liberal Party during the 2006 election, with high-profile barrister Clem Newton-Brown narrowly preselected as their candidate after a tight contest. Though Newton-Brown ran a thorough campaign, he was not successful. Following his success in the 2006 election, Tony Lupton was promoted to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation. Newton-Brown stood again at the 2010 election and was this time successful. He re-contested the 2014 election but lost to Sam Hibbins of the Greens. Along with the seat of Melbourne it was the first win for the Greens in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Hibbins increased his two-candidate-preferred margin to 7.5% at the 2018 election, but only narrowly defeated Labor by 262 votes in the 3-candidate-preferred count. At the 2022 election, a large swing to the Greens saw them take first place on primary votes before comfortably defeating the Liberal Party on a 2-candidate-preferred basis, retaining the seat for a third term with an increased margin of 12%.

Members for Prahran

Image Member Party Term Notes
 
Edward_Dixon.png
Edward Dixon
(1833–1905)
Independent 1 April 1889
1 September 1894
 
Frederick_Gray.png
Frederick Gray
(1853–1933)
Labour 1 October 1894
1 October 1900
 
Donald_Mackinnon.png
Donald Mackinnon
(1859–1932)
Liberal 1 October 1900
21 October 1920
  Alexander Parker
(1891–1970s)
Labor 21 October 1920
30 August 1921
  Richard Fetherston
(1964–1943)
Nationalist 30 August 1921
26 June 1924
  Arthur Jackson
(1874–1957)
Labor 26 June 1924
14 May 1932
 
JohnEllisMP.png
John Ellis
(1872–1945)
United Australia 14 May 1932
5 March 1945
Died in office[2]
  Liberal 5 March 1945 –
2 July 1945
  Bill Quirk
(1891–1948)
Labor 18 August 1945
16 November 1948
Won by-election. Died in office[3]
  Frank Crean
(1916–2008)
Labor 22 January 1949
17 March 1951
Previously member for Albert Park. Won by-election. Resigned in 1951 to successfully contest federal seat of Melbourne Ports and later served as Deputy Prime Minister
  Robert Pettiona
(1915–1980)
Labor 16 June 1951
28 May 1955
Won by-election. Lost seat
  Sam Loxton
(1921–2011)
Liberal 28 May 1955
5 May 1979
  Bob Miller
(1941–)
Labor 5 May 1979
2 March 1985
Did not seek re-election in order to unsuccessfully contest Legislative Council seat of Monash
  Don Hayward
(1932–)
Liberal 2 March 1985
30 March 1996
  Leonie Burke
(1949–)
Liberal 30 March 1996
30 November 2002
Lost seat[4][5]
  Tony Lupton
(1957–)
Labor 30 November 2002
27 November 2010
Lost seat[6]
  Clem Newton-Brown
(1967–)
Liberal 27 November 2010
29 November 2014
Lost seat[7]
  Sam Hibbins
(1982–)
Greens 29 November 2014
1 November 2024
Resigned from Greens after admitting to extramarital affair with staff member.[8] Resigned from parliament[9]
  Independent 1 November 2024–
23 November 2024
  Rachel Westaway Liberal 8 February 2025
present
Won by-election. Incumbent

Election results

2025 Prahran state by-election[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Rachel Westaway 11,443 36.19 +5.1
Greens Angelica Di Camillo 11,442 36.19 −0.2
Independent Tony Lupton 4,021 12.72 +12.7
Independent Nathan Chisholm 1,672 5.29 +5.3
Animal Justice Faith Fuhrer 879 2.78 −0.4
Independent Janine Hendry 505 1.60 +1.6
Independent Buzz Billman 465 1.47 +1.5
Sustainable Australia Dennis Bilic 430 1.36 +1.4
Family First Geneviève Gilbert 340 1.08 −0.5
Libertarian Mark Dessau 292 0.92 +0.9
Independent Alan Menadue 126 0.40 −0.7
Total formal votes 31,615 96.1 −0.8
Informal votes 1,271 3.86 +0.8
Turnout 32,886 68.28 −14.4
Two-candidate-preferred result
Liberal Rachel Westaway 16,234 51.35 +13.4
Greens Angelica Di Camillo 15,381 48.65 −13.4
Liberal gain from Greens Swing +13.4
Primary vote results in Prahran (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Liberal
  Labor
  Greens
Two-candidate-preferred results in Prahran

References

  1. ^ "The Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888" (PDF). Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  2. ^ "DEATH OF CR. ELLIS, PRAHRAN'S M.L.A." The Herald. 2 July 1945. p. 5. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  3. ^ "DEATH OF MR QUIRK, MLA". The Argus. 17 November 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  4. ^ "It's David v. Goliath for the vanquished". The Age. 2 December 2002. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  5. ^ Rees, Margaret; Head, Mike (5 December 2002). "Prime Minister's party reduced to a rump in Australian state election". World Socialist Web Site. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  6. ^ Kapetopoulos, Fotis (28 November 2010). "Baillieu edges closer to victory". Neos Kosmos. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  7. ^ "Victorian Greens claim Prahran, winning historic second seat in parliament". The Guardian. 10 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  8. ^ Ore, Adeshola; Kolovos, Benita (1 November 2024). "Victorian Greens leader says MP will 'never be welcomed back' after relationship with staffer that breached party rules". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 December 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  9. ^ Yu, Andi (23 November 2024). "Prahran MP Sam Hibbins announces he is quitting parliament". ABC News. Archived from the original on 27 December 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Prahran District Results". Prahran District by-election. Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
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