Liberals unveil Werribee candidate ahead of crucial byelection

A real estate agent has been unveiled as the Liberal candidate for the crucial seat of Werribee, with the upcoming byelection being touted as a referendum on the Allan government.

On Saturday, newly minted Opposition Leader Brad Battin announced that former policeman and army trooper Steve Murphy would be the party’s candidate for the February 8 byelection in Melbourne’s west.

Liberal candidate for Werribee Steve MurphyCredit: Luis Enrique Ascui

The key seat is up for grabs following former treasurer Tim Pallas’ resignation as an MP after 18 years in parliament.

Murphy runs a real estate agency in Werribee but no longer lives in the electorate. He moved to Essendon West to be closer to his children a few years ago, after living in Werribee for almost 30 years.

He vowed to campaign on a platform of reducing crime, addressing the cost-of-living crisis and improving infrastructure.

“I love Werribee, but I don’t love what the Labor Party has done to Werribee,” Murphy told reporters at Station Place Park in Werribee on Saturday, just a 10-minute drive from where a fatal stabbing claimed the life of a 24-year-old man in Wyndham Vale the previous night.

“I thought it was time to step up.”

Murphy said he was unsure what the next few weeks would entail. “It’s going to be a bit of a whirlwind,” he said.

It’s not the first time Murphy has been involved in an election campaign. His wife, Gayle, has unsuccessfully run as a Liberal candidate in four state and federal elections for electorates encompassing Werribee.

Liberal candidate for Werribee Steve Murphy and Opposition Leader Brad Battin.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

While Murphy said Pallas could have delivered more for locals, he spoke positively of his dealings with the former treasurer. He singled out a grant that Pallas had given Wyndham Track and Field Athletics club of which Murphy was president for six years.

“No issues at all,” he said of the former treasurer whose seat he hopes to win.

Murphy has worked in real estate for 26 years and criticised the Labor government for raising taxes, which he said made it harder for Victorians to purchase property.

Labor holds the historically safe seat of Werribee with a 10.9 per cent margin on a two-party preferred basis, but its grip on the seat has been whittled away over the past decade. The Liberals achieved an 8.7 per cent swing in 2022.

Former Labor strategist Kos Samaras, who is now the director of strategy and analytics at the RedBridge Group, said the byelection would provide a preview of what Victorian politics might look over the next decade.

“The west is the fastest-growing part of Melbourne,” he explained. “It’s where most of the safe seats will be created in the next decade, so governing Spring Street will be almost impossible without having some presence in the west and north-west.”

He said the Liberals’ traditional heartland in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs was not growing, so it was vital that they picked up seats elsewhere. The sandbelt seats of Bentleigh and Mordialloc would be difficult for the Liberals to win again because they had significantly gentrified, says Samaras.

“All the new political real estate is out in there in the west and north-west”.

He said the byelection would also be a referendum on Premier Jacinta Allan’s government.

“It will be an insight into how the government is travelling,” he said.

Battin replaced former opposition leader John Pesutto at the end of December, and Samaras said he hadn’t been in the job long enough to draw any conclusions about his popularity from the results.

He said many younger middle- to-low income families were moving to the western suburbs and replacing older, more traditional Labor voters.

“These younger voters would naturally vote for Labor but over time we’re seeing an erosion of that, hence the primary vote is dropping.”

While Battin would not be drawn into the outcome of the byelection, he said it was important that Werribee locals had a voice.

“It’s time for the people here to know we will be a strong voice for them in the Victorian parliament,” he said. “We as a party are committed to the west.”

Nominations for Liberal Party endorsement closed on Friday, with this masthead previously reporting that Indian-Australian entrepreneur Rajan Chopra was in the running to become the candidate for the crucial byelection. Battin confirmed on Saturday that a few applications had come through.

Labor has chosen teacher and CFA volunteer John Lister to run as its candidate for Werribee. Lister has already been doorknocking the electorate of about 46,000 voters alongside senior Allan government ministers.

The Greens candidate is Rifai A. Raheem, who is president and secretary of many local community organisations, including Werribee Islamic Centre.

Raheem is an active member of the union movement and will be campaigning on a platform of cost of living, housing affordability and climate.

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