Fresh from fighting fires, John Lister takes hot seat in Werribee

At 3am on Friday morning, Werribee school teacher John Lister was in the sun-cured grasslands that run beyond the western edge of Melbourne, helping his local CFA brigade mop up a small fire.

A little after noon, he was declared Labor’s new MP for Werribee with responsibility for bringing under control blazing voter discontent.

Newly elected Werribee MP John Lister says the message sent by voters has been heard “loud and clear.”Credit: Justin McManus

“We have heard the message from voters loud and clear,” he said.

“The work starts now, and I will be continuing to do that work all the way up to the next election.”

Labor claimed victory in Werribee on Friday after a further counting of votes extended Lister’s two-party-preferred lead over Liberal candidate Steve Murphy to 593 votes.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin conceded the byelection a short time later, promising to keeping taking his party’s case to Werribee and the rest of Melbourne’s west between now and next year’s state election.

On the latest figures published by the Victorian Electoral Commission, Lister secured 28.9 per cent of the primary vote and Murphy 29.04 per cent. This represents a swing of 16.5 per cent against Labor from the 2022 state election. At the 2022 state election, the Liberal candidate secured just over 25 per cent of the primary vote in Werribee.

Another way to look at this result is that, among 56,464 people registered to vote in Werribee at this byelection, 12,124 pencilled in a 1 next to Lister’s name. Many people didn’t bother to vote and some voted informally, but only 21.3 per cent of the electorate voted Labor.

This number is strikingly similar to the results published by this masthead of statewide Resolve Political Monitor surveys conducted in December and January. According to that poll, which was met with disbelief by some political watchers, Labor’s primary support had collapsed to 22 per cent.

At the age of 31, Lister is a very different proposition for an electorate that for the previous 10 years was represented by Tim Pallas, a union leader, party apparatchik and long-serving treasurer who lived half an hour’s drive away in Williamstown.

Lister is not a political naif, having previously worked as a political adviser to former police minister Lisa Neville. His title was caucus liaison and his job was to serve as a conduit between the minister and her fellow Labor colleagues on all matters to do with police and emergency services.

Lister’s new job is a variant of this. He will be the conduit between the people of Werribee and Jacinta Allan’s government.

Lister accepted his new job standing in the open spaces of Wyndham Park, a series of playing fields, playgrounds and bike and walking tracks that leads down from the railway tracks to the gum-lined banks of the Werribee River.

The premier wasn’t there for this low-key end to a high-stakes campaign, but Minister for Transport Infrastructure Gabrielle Williams, a familiar face on the Werribee hustings, was on hand to welcome Lister’s “youthful exuberance” and passion for his community.

Werribee MP John Lister and government minister Gabrielle Williams speaking at the low-key end to a high stakes byelection. Credit: Justin McManus

“We have known and been eyes wide open about the challenge that has been before us and the work that needed to be put in,” she said. “Our focus now has to be on demonstrating that we have heard the message, on being out there and delivering and winning back that trust.”

As Lister and Williams were taking questions, a police chopper buzzing overhead and nearby sirens served as timely reminders of how voter frustration at local crime, along with traffic snarls and cost-of-living anxiety, shaped the Werribee vote.

Lister spent his Friday morning clearing out his desk at Wyndham Central College, where he taught English and served as year 10 co-ordinator. He’ll have a chance to meet his new classmates when parliament resumes next week.

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