Strong Greens performance in Victoria

The Greens have gained one extra seat in the lower house, another in the upper house, and are hopeful of gaining an extra two in the upper house after a strong performance in the Victorian election at the weekend.

The Victorian Greens Party, led by Samantha Ratnam, holds a press conference in the gardens of Parliament House on Sunday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie

The Greens have gained one extra seat in the lower house and another, possibly two, in the upper house after a strong performance in the Victorian election at the weekend.

The minor party retained three inner-city seats, Melbourne, Brunswick and Prahran, and picked up Richmond – which was held by now retired Labor MP Richard Wynne since 1999 and was historically a safe Labor seat – on a two-party-preferred vote of 57 per cent.

But the Greens’ first preference count did not substantially increase in Richmond. Gabrielle De Vietri landed 34.1 per cent of the primary vote compared with Kathleen Maltzahn’s 34.32 per cent in 2018, according to the Victorian Electoral Commission.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said on Sunday her party did not have to rely on the Liberals, and told reporters elected MPs were emboldened to push Daniel Andrews’ re-elected government to take action on climate change and the cost of living when parliament resumed.

“We haven’t won our seats because of Liberal preferences. We have run strong, people-powered grassroots campaigns talking to thousands of voters on the issues that really matter to them,” she said. “The Greens are on track to double our representation in the next Victorian parliament and hold the balance of power in the upper house, putting us in a very powerful position to push this next government to go further and faster on the issues that matter.”

Mr Wynne said the Greens’ first preference count had hardly shifted in four years.

“The Greens’ political leader can try and spin this as much as she likes, but the facts (show) in Richmond the Greens’ primary vote barely moved,” he said. “The 10 per cent that actually moved from me from the 2018 election went to minor parties, with the Socialists the big winners. The Greens could not have won without Liberal Party preferences.”

The Coalition forced Mr Andrews’ party to invest more resources in defending the seats of Richmond, Northcote and Albert Park after revealing it would direct preferences to the Greens and put Labor last.

Incumbent Northcote Labor MP Kat Theophanous seems to have weathered a Greens challenge.

Incumbent Northcote Labor MP Kat Theophanous weathered the challenge on Sunday, after counting on Saturday night revealed an initial surge to the Greens that was countered by pre-poll and postal votes. A campaign insider, who requested anonymity, said they were quietly confident Ms Theophanous would hold the seat.

“This was not won over the last two weeks,” they said. It was a result of a double-pronged approach of working in the community for four years and exposing the “hypocrisy” of the Greens, the insider said. As counting continued on Sunday, Ms Theophanous was ahead with 51.2 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote, with the Greens’ Campbell Gome on 48.7 2PP.

There was a 10 per cent drop in the Greens’ primary vote from 2018, when Ms Theophanous took Northcote off Lidia Thorpe, who secured a 39.5 per cent first preference result, compared with 29 per cent secured by Mr Gome.

Mr Andrews visited Northcote three times during the campaign, and quipped on Sunday: “No member of my team is going to be sitting in the parliament as a result of Liberal Party preferences.”

The Greens appeared set to expand their number in the upper house, with Ms Ratnam retaining her seat as a member for Northern Metropolitan Melbourne and Katherine Copsey elected for the Southern Metropolitan region.