Left-wing parties to hold sway in upper house as Greens quadruple seats

Left-wing parties will hold sway in Victoria’s upper house after the Greens quadrupled their presence in an expanded crossbench alongside two MPs from Legalise Cannabis.

Labor ended up with 15 seats in the Legislative Council, requiring the support of six others to pass its legislation, with 11 crossbenchers and 14 Coalition MPs also elected. The Victorian Electoral Commission declared the results of the November election on Wednesday.

The Greens celebrate following the count in the Victorian upper house.Credit: Jason South

One Nation will have a seat in the 60th Victorian parliament for the first time with the election of Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell in Northern Victoria. “Go Rikkie!” one supporter yelled at the Melbourne Showgrounds, where the VEC tallied the votes on Wednesday morning.

Nineteen of the 40 upper house MPs are new to state parliament.

The Greens claimed four seats, up from only one – party leader Samantha Ratnam – in the previous parliament. New MPs include Sarah Mansfield in Western Victoria, the first Greens MP to represent a regional Victorian community; Katherine Copsey in the Southern Metropolitan region; and 27-year-old renter Aiv Puglielli in the North-Eastern Metropolitan region, who embraced Ratnam when his election was confirmed.

The party will have a total of eight MPs in both houses, up from four.

Labor will need crossbench support to get its agenda through the upper house, but will be buoyed by the left-leaning outcome, which also includes Georgie Purcell from the Animal Justice Party.

Ratnam said Labor had to choose between co-operating with the Greens and other progressives or with the Liberals and right-wing minor parties such as One Nation.

Supporters wearing “Legalise Cannabis” T-shirts jumped up and cheered when Rachel Payne was elected to the South-Eastern Metro region and David Ettershank won a seat in Western Metro.

Rachel Payne is elected for Legalise Cannabis.Credit: Jason South

Ousted Labor MP Adem Somyurek, who moved to the Democratic Labour Party after The Age reported on allegations of his links to branch stacking, was elected to the Northern Metropolitan region, forcing out Reason Party leader Fiona Patten.

Patten conceded on Monday, but confirmation of her loss on Wednesday prompted gasps from the room.

Exiled Liberal Bernie Finn, who joined the Democratic Labour Party alongside Somyurek, was unsuccessful in the Western Metropolitan region.

While Purcell was elected in Northern Victoria, the Animal Justice Party lost former MP Andy Meddick in Western Victoria.

“I’m really going to feel Andy’s absence in the parliament,” said Purcell, Meddick’s former chief of staff.

Liberal Democrat David Limbrick was returned to represent South-Eastern Metro, but former MP Tim Quilty lost his seat.

Jeff Bourman, from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, regained his position in Eastern Victoria.

Renee Heath, who became a headache for former opposition leader Matthew Guy during the election campaign when The Age revealed her links to an ultra-conservative church, was comfortably elected to represent the Liberal Party in Eastern Victoria.

Controversial Liberal Moira Deeming was also elected to Western Metro.

The expanded crossbench is likely to put pressure on the Andrews government for drug reform after the election of two Legalise Cannabis MPs.

Purcell, who nominated banning duck hunting and jumps racing as her priorities, said she also supported legalising cannabis, as do the Greens and Limbrick.

The Liberal Democrat said he would work with other parties to push the reform and that he was in a position to bring conservatives to support legalisation.

“If we play our cards right, this will happen in this term,” Limbrick said.

Catherine Cumming, elected in 2018 as part of Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party before defecting to sit as an independent and creating the Angry Victorians Party, was not returned.

Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party was wiped out, and Rod Barton from Transport Matters and Clifford Hayes from Sustainable Australia were also unsuccessful.

Former Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela, who joined the New Democrats after voting against the government, also lost her position.

Guy’s former chief of staff, Nick McGowan, who replaced Mitch Catlin after a donation scandal, was elected to North-Eastern Metro for the Liberals, and former Institute of Public Affairs staffer Evan Mulholland will represent the Northern Metropolitan region.

Liberal hopeful Manju Hanumantharayappa was unsuccessful.

Upper house MPs by seat

Eastern Victoria: Renee Heath (Liberal), Tom McIntosh and Harriet Shing (Labor), Melina Bath (Nationals), Jeff Bourman (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party).

North-Eastern Metropolitan: Shaun Leane and Sonja Terpstra (Labor), Matthew Bach and Nick McGowan (Liberal), Aiv Puglielli (Greens).

Northern Metropolitan: Sheena Watt and Enver Erdogan (Labor), Evan Mulholland (Liberal) Samantha Ratnam (Greens), Adem Somyurek (Democratic Labour Party).

Northern Victoria: Wendy Lovell (Liberal), Jaclyn Symes (Labor), Gaelle Broad (Nationals), Georgie Purcell (Animal Justice), Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell (One Nation).

South-Eastern Metropolitan: Lee Tarlamis and Michael Galea (Labor), Ann-Marie Hermans (Liberal), Rachel Payne (Legalise Cannabis), David Limbrick (Liberal Democrats).

Southern Metropolitan: David Davis and Georgie Crozier (Liberal), John Berger and Ryan Batchelor (Labor), Katherine Copsey (Greens).

Western Metropolitan: Lizzie Blandthorn and Ingrid Stitt (Labor), Moira Deeming and Trung Luu (Liberal), David Ettershank (Legalise Cannabis).

Western Victoria: Jacinta Ermacora and Gayle Tierney (Labor), Bev McArthur and Joe McCracken (Liberal), Sarah Mansfield (Greens).

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