Greens choose environmental engineer for Prahran byelection showdown

An environmental engineer originally picked to run in the now-abolished federal seat of Higgins has been chosen as the Victorian Greens’ candidate in the state seat of Prahran.

The party has announced Angelica Di Camillo will run for the Greens in the coming byelection, which was triggered by the resignation of Greens MP Sam Hibbins, who admitted to a relationship with a staffer.

Angelica Di Camillo will stand for the Greens in the Prahran byelection.Credit: Elke Meitzel

“As a young person living in St Kilda East, I know our community is struggling,” Di Camillo said. “Rent keeps going up, young people have given up on the dream of ever owning a home and they’re worried about the climate.”

Working as an environmental engineer, Di Camillo was picked by the party to run in Higgins at the next federal election, but the Australian Electoral Commission abolished the electorate in a redistribution.

Di Camillo said the stakes were high in Prahran, as Labor’s decision not to field a candidate effectively made the poll a contest between the Greens and the Liberal Party.

“Prahran is a progressive community, and we deserve a progressive voice in parliament who fights to cap and freeze rents, affordable housing, a clean and safe climate for future generations, and to take on the big supermarkets’ price gouging,” she said.

“Every vote here in Prahran is powerful, and to make sure we have a candidate that actually represents us, to keep the Liberals out, we have to vote Green.”

Hibbins held the seat by a 12 per cent margin after preferences, but the Prahran campaign will be closely watched because the Greens, Labor and the Liberals have all held the seat at times over the past two decades. At the previous state election, the three parties all received at least a quarter of the primary vote.

The byelection was considered a potential test for the Allan government’s popularity until Labor chose not to run.

The Liberals, who ran second in Prahran in 2022, will seek to translate their recent turnaround in opinion polls into an electoral win in what was once the party’s heartland.

Nominations for preselection close on Monday and a preselection convention is expected on December 15.

The Resolve Political Monitor found last month that Opposition Leader John Pesutto had overtaken Jacinta Allan as preferred premier, attracting support from 30 per cent of voters compared to 29 for the Labor leader. Forty-one per cent were undecided.

The Coalition’s primary vote across Victoria, according to the monitor, was 38 per cent, compared to 28 per cent for Labor and 13 per cent for the Greens.

Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said the byelection would be close. “My message to the people of Prahran is simple: this byelection, your vote is powerful. If you want positive change, we need more independent voices outside the two major parties,” she said.

On Wednesday Allan defended Labor’s decision not to contest Prahran, despite a push from some in the party to run.

“Labor [has] not run in seats it hasn’t held for the best part of a quarter of a century and that’s appropriate because we’re focused on all Victorians, not on Liberal-Greens contests,” she said.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.