Date set for Warrandyte by-election as Labor weighs options

Liberal candidate Nicole Ta-Ei Werner has been campaigning in Warrandyte for nearly three weeks, with Labor yet to announce a candidate.

State Liberal candidate for Warrandyte, Nicole Werner.

Voters in the Victorian state seat of Warrandyte will go to the polls on August 26, in a contest that looks unlikely to be contested by Labor.

Liberal MP Ryan Smith is quitting politics after 16 years, and last month the party pre­selected as it candidates Nicole Ta-Ei Werner, a former youth pastor, charity manager, Jane Hume staffer and Liberal Box Hill candidate.

Victorian Labor secretary Chris Ford is on leave overseas, and the party is not expected to announce whether it will run in the outer northeastern Melbourne seat – held by Mr Smith with a 4.2 per cent margin – until his return late next week.

However, several Labor sources said the party was highly unlikely to run, describing the decision as a choice between “spending up to half a million dollars on a 57th seat now, or having that money to spend on what could be the seat the gets us a fourth term in 2026”.