Voters abandon Labor in Werribee and Greens in Prahran, but byelections too close to call

Western suburbs voters have hammered the Labor government in the Werribee byelection, with Premier Jacinta Allan conceding late on Saturday that the result in the heartland seat was too close to call.

The Greens, meanwhile, faced a serious challenge in Prahran, where the Liberals held a narrow lead in a race that will also need to wait until next week to find a winner. The Greens took the seat with a 12 per cent margin in 2022.

A mishap at the Victorian Electoral Commission’s early voting centre slowed progress on the Werribee result, with a leak in the roof delaying counting of pre-poll and postal votes, leaving just a third of votes counted as 10pm neared.

By 11pm, officials had counted almost 75 per cent of the total votes. Liberal candidate Steve Murphy had his nose in front with just over 29 per cent of first preference votes, while Labor’s John Lister had more than 28 per cent. Independent candidate Paul Hopper had almost 15 per cent.

On a two-candidate preferred basis, Lister had a slender lead with just over 50 per cent at 11.30pm.

If the pattern of the count so far is indicative of what’s to come, voters have abandoned Labor in greater numbers than at any byelection since the Andrews government came to power a decade ago.

Allan late on Saturday warned that the byelection remained tight and would likely go down to the wire. “Tonight it is very tight. It is too close to call,” she said.

In Prahran, with almost two-thirds of the total vote counted by 11pm, Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo and Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway were locked at 36 per cent of the primary vote. Almost 13 per cent voted for independent Tony Lupton.

At the latest update, Westaway was ahead on a two-party preferred basis with almost 52 per cent.

Late on Saturday, Greens leader Ellen Sandell said the result was “on a knife’s edge”.

She urged the parties’ volunteers to sign up to scrutineer when counting resumes on Monday morning. “We need to make sure every vote for Angelica counts,” she said.

Victoria’s political leaders had earlier staked out the political contest beyond Saturday’s byelections, with Allan promising to do more to ease the financial pressures on families while Opposition Leader Brad Battin vowed to continue the battle for Melbourne’s west.

Speaking before counting began, Battin said erasing Labor’s margin in Werribee was a “massive, massive ask” for Liberal candidate Murphy and regardless of the result, his party would continue to work to break Labor’s stranglehold on Melbourne’s western suburbs.

“All of these seats throughout the west, you’ve been neglected for too long and we’ll be here for you,” he said. There are 11 state electorates covering Melbourne’s west. All are held by Labor.

Allan made her final pitch to Werribee voters at a Wyndham Vale primary school with Labor’s candidate Lister, a local teacher. She acknowledged that families were “doing it really, really tough” and promised to do more to ease pressure on household budgets.

“I am particularly focused on those working families, those working people, who need a Labor government championing for them, working hard for them, fighting for them,” she said.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, after greeting Labor volunteers at Saturday night’s election party at the Werribee Centrals Cricket Club, said Allan retained his full support.

“We need to keep focused on our western suburbs and our northern suburbs and keep focusing on the people we were elected to represent; hard working Victorians that are aspirational, want the best for their kids and want to get home so they can spend time with their families,” he said.

“Byelections are always difficult. We always knew that. What we do know is we have more work to do. I always knew this was always going to be a very tough byelection.”

The byelection in Werribee, a nominally safe seat held two years ago by former treasurer Tim Pallas with a margin of nearly 11 per cent, was fought on the central issues of transport infrastructure, cost of living and crime, at a time when support for the Allan government has crashed to a historic low.

Allan addressed party supporters just after 10pm at the Werribee Centrals Cricket Club and was humble in the face of a stinging voter backlash.

“I am listening, my government is listening,” she said. “Whatever the result tonight, we must remember what we are fighting for, who we are fighting for.”

At the polling booths, voters echoed the key concerns that had framed the campaign. “Living standards are getting worse,” said Kamaljit Kaur, who cast her vote at the Iramoo Primary School in Wyndham Vale, a growth suburb on the western edge of the city’s urban growth boundary. “Crime is also getting worse – out of control.”

In Prahran, the flow of preferences will determine the outcome in the seat, with both Greens and Liberals describing the counting as very tight.

Greens MP Katherine Copsey said it looked like the result in Prahran would be a close call. “It might come down to preferences,” she told supporters at the party’s function, before congratulating the party on being “people powered”.

The Prahran byelection was prompted by the resignation of Greens MP Sam Hibbins after he had an affair with a staffer. Westaway said there was a “real feeling of change”.

The Greens have held the seat for 10 years and entered the byelection campaign with a 12 per cent margin.

Labor chose not to field a candidate in Prahran but former Labor MP turned independent Lupton has campaigned aggressively against the Greens, which he describes as an “extremist party” that has fostered antisemitism.

His presence in the race and decision to preference the Liberals has boosted the chances of the inner-Melbourne seat changing hands. It also complicated the vote count, with a complex flow of preferences expected to decide the result.

Liberal Party supporters gathered at the Prahran Hotel on High Street, Windsor, were hopeful but realistic about Westaway’s chances of flipping the seat.

Battin arrived with the Liberal candidate at 9.30pm to chants of “Rachel, Rachel, Rachel” and he thanked the “sea of blue”.

“We are here and we are ready to step up and represent the community,” he said.

Battin said voters had shown they had had enough, but acknowledged there was a long way to go in the count.

Westaway said she was deeply humbled and excited to see the results, acknowledging it would be a close one.

“The Liberal Party is blossoming. We are there to represent you.”

The 55-year-old mother of three was, until recently, a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She campaigned on Saturday next to John Pesutto, the Liberal leader ousted late last year in a party room coup after the Federal Court found he defamed one of his own MPs, Moira Deeming.

Greens candidate and environmental engineer Di Camillo, 26, was fighting to hold on for the minor party. Greens volunteers followed the count at the Local Taphouse, nervously awaiting results.

Tensions had been high at Prahran polling places amid an anti-Greens campaign backed by right-wing lobby group Advance. Independent Buzz Billman pulled his volunteers off booths on Saturday, alleging aggressive behaviour from them. Advance rejected this and said the only bad behaviour was from the Greens.

The Victorian Electoral Commission confirmed one formal complaint had been made in Prahran.

The electoral commission separately received a complaint from the Greens, alleging Advance may have used federal donations to campaign against the Greens in the state byelection. Advance disputes this.

The VEC separately sought an injunction against Advance in the Supreme Court over political signs repeatedly placed within 100 metres of early polling booths. The action was discontinued when Advance provided an undertaking it would remind its volunteers against it, but Advance claimed the action was heavy-handed and “a politically motivated attack”.

Saturday’s byelections were the first chance for voters to have their say following the Liberal Party’s change of leaders in December after Battin successfully challenged John Pesutto. Labor strategists, who were anticipating a big swing against them in Werribee, will analyse the results with an eye to next November’s state election and, more immediately, this year’s federal poll.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.