‘A tough fight’: Labor retains Mulgrave, but bruised in byelection to replace Andrews

Labor has declared a victory in Saturday’s byelection to replace former premier Daniel Andrews in the seat of Mulgrave after suffering a 10 per cent swing.

An emotional Eden Foster addressed cheering supporters alongside Premier Jacinta Allan at the Noble Park RSL in Melbourne’s south-east shortly before 10.30pm, after the majority of votes had been counted in a tight result.

Premier Jacinta Allan with Labor candidate for Mulgrave, Eden Foster.Credit: AAP

“Friends, we did it. Tonight, I am truly humbled to stand here in front of you to be the next Labor MP for Mulgrave. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s a surreal feeling,” Foster said.

“I put my hand up in this campaign because this community has given me everything. The journey of a working-class girl from Noble Park to Spring Street has not been an easy one,” Foster said.

With about 78 per cent of votes counted late on Saturday night, Foster had a primary vote of 40.10 per cent – a fall of more than 10 percentage points from the 2022 election.

Allan, acknowledging the swing, said byelections were challenging for governments and particularly those that were replacing a longstanding leader. Cost of living pressures on the community only added to that, she said.

Liberal Party candidate Courtney Mann.

“We knew we were in with a tough fight, we knew it would be a hard one to win,” Allan told the ALP faithful. “Of course, Daniel Andrews served the community here for 20 years. Everyone, on every street knew Daniel. He was part of this community, he was trusted by the community, and (the) impact of his work on this community was clear.”

Opposition Leader John Pesutto was also celebrating an increase in the Liberal Party’s primary vote through candidate Courtney Mann, recording 21.57 per cent of first preference votes close to midnight, an improvement from 17.2 per cent in the seat at least year’s general election.

The Liberals were expected to fall in second place, overtaking independent Ian Cook.

“People want change, they’re crying out for it. We achieved a lot in three weeks,” Pesutto told supporters about 9pm. “We will do it next time, my friends. This is a part of our rebuilding as we approach the 2026 election.”

Cook had recorded a primary vote of about 18.89 per cent shortly before midnight.

The Greens received 5.92 per cent of votes counted by that time, a similar result to the 2022 election, while the Victorian Socialists picked up about 3.77 per cent.

Foster was defending Labor’s healthy 10.2 per cent margin on a two-party preferred basis. Nine challengers were up against her in the byelection that Andrews triggered when he resigned in September from the seat he had represented for more than 20 years.

While Andrews won comfortably in 2022 with a primary vote of 51 per cent, and 60.2 per cent after the distribution of preferences, byelections tend to swing against governments – particularly those that replace a former leader.

Premier Jacinta Allan earlier on Saturday shrugged off suggestions a poor result would be a test of her new leadership.

Foster, a 42-year-old clinical psychologist and the mayor of Dandenong, grew up in Noble Park, which forms part of the electorate along with the suburbs of Mulgrave, Wheelers Hill, Springvale and Noble Park North.

Cook, who earned 18 per cent of primary votes in last year’s state election on an anti-corruption campaign against Andrews, had a partial victory this week in the ongoing “slug gate” saga.

The Supreme Court ruled former chief health officer Brett Sutton’s decision to shut down Cook’s catering company, I Cook Foods, over an alleged listeria outbreak was invalid because procedural fairness was not followed.

Independent candidate Ian Cook contesting the Mulgrave byelection.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

Cook’s team on Wednesday complained that the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) had failed to advertise the byelection in culturally and linguistically diverse media after doorknocking households that were unaware the vote was taking place.

“We have similarly been notified by locals of the failure of the VEC to distribute any individual hard copy or ‘snail mail’ material to voters advising them of the byelection and requirement to vote,” the complaint to the commission said.

Electoral commissioner Sven Bluemmel on Thursday said the number of early votes was below what was typically expected. About 47,000 people are registered to vote in the seat.

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