Electoral district of Prahran
Prahran is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It was created by the Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888,[1] taking effect at the 1889 elections. It is the state's smallest electorate of 12 km² (4.6 sq.ml) in the inner south-east of Melbourne, taking in the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor, as well as parts of Balaclava, St Kilda, St Kilda East and Toorak (west of Orrong Rd). The electorate had a population of 54,141 at the 2001 census.
Prahran Victoria—Legislative Assembly | |
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![]() Location of Prahran (dark green) in Greater Melbourne | |
State | Victoria |
Created | 1889 |
MP | Sam Hibbins |
Party | Greens |
Electors | 50,373 (2018) |
Area | 12 km2 (4.6 sq mi) |
Demographic | Inner metropolitan |
Prahran has tended to be a marginal seat throughout its existence, repeatedly changing between the Labor Party and its successive conservative rivals. It has not, however, been a bellwether seat, as the changes of party control have often not coincided with changes of government. Since the 1980s, the electorate has become gradually more conservative as a result of increasing gentrification in the inner suburbs, resulting in seventeen years of Liberal control from 1985 until 2002. This trend was broken in the 2002 election, which saw popular local member and shadow minister Leonie Burke defeated by Labor rising star Tony Lupton on an unexpectedly large swing.
The seat was strongly targeted by the Liberal Party during the 2006 election, with high-profile barrister Clem Newton-Brown narrowly preselected as their candidate after a tight contest. Though Newton-Brown ran a thorough campaign, he was not successful. Following his success in the 2006 election, Tony Lupton was promoted to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation. Newton-Brown stood again at the 2010 election and was this time successful. He contested the 2014 election but lost to Sam Hibbins of the Greens who came third on primary votes but was able to overtake with the help of Animal Justice Party preferences after which the vast bulk of Labor preferences flowed to the Greens enabling Hibbins to clinch the seat from Newton-Brown. Along with the seat of Melbourne it was the first win for the Greens in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
At the 2018 election, the Greens retained Prahran, narrowly overtaking Labor into second place on preferences and then easily defeating the Liberal Party on the final count.
List of members for Prahran
Member | Party | Term | |
---|---|---|---|
Edward Dixon | Unaligned | 1889–1894 | |
Frederick Gray | Labor | 1894–1900 | |
Donald Mackinnon | Liberal | 1900–1920 | |
Alexander Parker | Labor | 1920–1921 | |
Richard Fetherston | Nationalist | 1921–1924 | |
Arthur Jackson | Labor | 1924–1932 | |
John Ellis | United Australia | 1932–1944 | |
Liberal | 1944–1945 | ||
Bill Quirk | Labor | 1945–1948 | |
Frank Crean | Labor | 1949–1951 | |
Robert Pettiona | Labor | 1951–1955 | |
Sam Loxton | Liberal | 1955–1979 | |
Bob Miller | Labor | 1979–1985 | |
Don Hayward | Liberal | 1985–1996 | |
Leonie Burke | Liberal | 1996–2002 | |
Tony Lupton | Labor | 2002–2010 | |
Clem Newton-Brown | Liberal | 2010–2014 | |
Sam Hibbins | Greens | 2014–present |
Election results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Katie Allen | 13,956 | 34.53 | −10.29 | |
Labor | Neil Pharaoh | 11,702 | 28.95 | +3.04 | |
Greens | Sam Hibbins | 11,347 | 28.07 | +3.32 | |
Democratic Labour | Leon Kofmansky | 933 | 2.31 | +2.31 | |
Animal Justice | Jennifer Long | 900 | 2.23 | −0.04 | |
Reason | Tom Tomlin | 830 | 2.05 | +2.05 | |
Sustainable Australia | Dennis Bilic | 468 | 1.16 | +1.16 | |
Aussie Battler | Wendy Patterson | 156 | 0.39 | +0.39 | |
Independent | Alan Menadue | 130 | 0.32 | +0.10 | |
Total formal votes | 40,422 | 94.77 | −0.12 | ||
Informal votes | 2,229 | 5.23 | +0.12 | ||
Turnout | 42,651 | 84.67 | −3.80 | ||
Two-party-preferred result | |||||
Labor | Neil Pharaoh | 23,263 | 57.55 | +7.58 | |
Liberal | Katie Allen | 17,159 | 42.45 | −7.58 | |
Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
Greens | Sam Hibbins | 23,224 | 57.45 | +7.08 | |
Liberal | Katie Allen | 17,198 | 42.55 | −7.08 | |
Greens hold | Swing | +7.08 | |||
External links
References
- "The Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888" (PDF). Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- State Election 2018: Prahran District, VEC.
- "Re-Member". Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 12 March 2014.