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, taking effect at the 1889 elections. The electorate is the state’s smallest by area, covering a little under in the inner south-east of Melbourne. It includes the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor, as well as parts of Southbank, St Kilda and St Kilda East.
Overview 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. In the 1980s and 1990s, the electorate became 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, coinciding with Labor’s massive win that year. The seat has since become increasingly progressive, having been won by either Labor or the Greens in five out of the last six elections while the Liberal Party's primary vote has declined from slightly above the state average to significantly below the state average.
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 re-contested the 2014 election but lost to Sam Hibbins of the Greens. Along with the seat of Melbourne it was the first win for the Greens in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
Hibbins increased his two-candidate-preferred margin to 7.5% at the 2018 election, but only narrowly defeated Labor by 262 votes in the 3-candidate-preferred count. At the 2022 election, a large swing to the Greens saw them take first place on primary votes before comfortably defeating the Liberal Party on a 2-candidate-preferred basis, retaining the seat for a third term with an increased margin of 12%.
Hibbins resigned from the Greens and briefly sat as an independent crossbencher after having an extramarital affair with a staffer. Hibbins subsequently resigned from parliament and a by-election ensued which was a race between the Greens and Liberals, with Labor not contesting. Tony Lupton contested as an Independent. The by-election was won narrowly by the Liberals' Rachel Westaway with a swing of 13.4% to the Liberals, the seat returning to conservative hands for the first time since 2014. This was due to numerous factors such as Lupton directing preferences to the Liberals, low voter turnout and John Pesutto's leadership of the Liberals. The seat is currently the third most marginal Liberal held seat in the state.
Members for Prahran ImageMemberPartyTermNotes Edward Dixon 1 April 1889 – 1 September 1894 Frederick Gray 1 October 1894 – 1 October 1900 Donald Mackinnon 1 October 1900 – 21 October 1920 Alexander Parker 21 October 1920 – 30 August 1921 Richard Fetherston 30 August 1921 – 26 June 1924 Arthur Jackson 26 June 1924 – 14 May 1932 John Ellis 14 May 1932 – 5 March 1945 Died in office 5 March 1945 – 2 July 1945 Bill Quirk 18 August 1945 – 16 November 1948 Won by-election. Died in office Frank Crean 22 January 1949 – 17 March 1951 Previously member for Albert Park. Won by-election. Resigned in 1951 to successfully contest federal seat of Melbourne Ports and later served as Deputy Prime Minister Robert Pettiona 16 June 1951 – 28 May 1955 Won by-election. Lost seat Sam Loxton 28 May 1955 – 5 May 1979 Bob Miller 5 May 1979 – 2 March 1985 Did not seek re-election in order to unsuccessfully contest Legislative Council seat of Monash Don Hayward 2 March 1985 – 30 March 1996 Leonie Burke 30 March 1996 – 30 November 2002 Lost seat Tony Lupton 30 November 2002 – 27 November 2010 Lost seat Clem Newton-Brown 27 November 2010 – 29 November 2014 Lost seat Sam Hibbins 1 November 2024 Resigned from Greens after admitting to extramarital affair with staff member. Resigned from parliament 1 November 2024– 23 November 2024 Rachel Westaway 8 February 2025 – present Won by-election. Incumbent
Election results
External links District profile from the Victorian Electoral Commission
References