2025 Werribee state by-election

2025 Werribee state by-election

←  2022 8 February 2025 2026  →
Electoral district of Werribee in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Registered	56,464 [1]
Turnout	45,120 (79.9% 5.7)
First party Second party Third party   Candidate John Lister Steve Murphy Paul Hopper Party Labor Liberal Independent Primary  vote 12,168 12,207 6,134 Percentage 28.89% 28.98% 14.56% Swing 16.47 3.65 8.66 2PP 50.82 49.18 2PP swing 10.10 10.10
Location of the electoral district of Werribee
MP before election Tim Pallas Labor Elected MP John Lister Labor

The 2025 Werribee state by-election was held on 8 February 2025 to elect the member for Werribee in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, following the resignation of Labor MP Tim Pallas. It took place on the same day as a by-election for Prahran. On 19 February the Victorian Electoral Commission declared Labor candidate John Lister as the elected member for Werribee. ^[2]

Background

Seat details

Werribee is located in the rapidly growing outer south west suburbs of Melbourne, covering the suburbs of Werribee, Wyndham Vale, and the rural areas surrounding these suburbs to the south and west. ^[3] The seat, along with the electoral districts of Tarneit and Lara which covered the seat's area between 2002 and 2014, has been continuously held by Labor since 1979.

At the time of the 2021 Australian census, the seat had a median weekly personal income of $784, lower than the state ($803) and national ($805) averages. Less than a quarter of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher (24.1%), a figure lower than the state (29.2%) and national (26.3%) figures, and the median age of residents (34) is slightly younger than both the state and national rates (38). ^[4]

2022 election results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly) § Werribee.[ edit ]

2022 Victorian state election: Werribee ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Tim Pallas	17,512	45.4	−0.6
	Liberal	Mia Shaw	9,779	25.3	+8.7
	Greens	Jack Boddeke	2,613	6.8	+0.3
	Independent	Paul Hopper	2,278	5.9	+5.9
	Victorian Socialists	Sue Munro	1,391	3.6	+3.6
	Family First	Matthew Emerson	964	2.5	+2.5
	Democratic Labour	Kathryn Breakwell	767	2.0	−1.2
	Animal Justice	Josh Segrave	730	1.9	+1.9
	Justice	Patricia Anne Wicks	709	1.8	+1.8
	Freedom	Mark Strother	663	1.7	+1.7
	Transport Matters	Trevor Russell Collins	360	0.9	+0.9
	New Democrats	Prashant Tandon	319	0.8	+0.8
	Health Australia	Karen Hogan	260	0.7	+0.7
	Independent	Patrizia Barcatta	213	0.6	+0.6
	Independent	Heni Cazlynn Kwan	45	0.1	+0.1
Total formal votes			38,603	90.3	−2.9
Informal votes			4,156	9.7	+2.9
Turnout			42,759	85.6	+4.5
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Tim Pallas	23,517	60.9	−2.4
	Liberal	Mia Shaw	15,086	39.1	+2.4
	Labor hold		Swing	−2.4

Key events

• 6 January 2025 − Tim Pallas resigns
• 13 January 2025 − Close of electoral roll
• 23 January 2025 – Candidate nominations close for registered parties
• 24 January 2025 – Candidate nominations close for independents
• 29 January 2025 − Early voting begins
• 8 February 2025 − Polling day

Candidates

Candidates are listed in the order they appeared on the ballot. ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Background
	Greens	Rifai A. Raheem	Community activist and union organiser [11]
	Liberal	Steve Murphy	Real estate agent and former police officer
	Family First	Matt Emerson	Community volunteer and small business IT professional
	Legalise Cannabis	Xavier Menta	Horticulturist [12]
	Independent	Munish Joshi
	Victorian Socialists	Sue Munro	Community activist and agency-enrolled nurse
	Animal Justice	Shohre Mansouri Jajaee	Software engineer and charity worker [13]
	Independent	Kodei Mulcahy	Community activist and childcare educator [14]
	Independent	Aidan McLindon	Mayor of Whittlesea and former Queensland MP
	Independent	Paul Hopper	Candidate for Werribee in 2022 and co-founder of unregistered West Party [15] [16]
	Labor	John Lister	Teacher and CFA volunteer firefighter
	Independent	Aijaz Moinuddin	Founder of unregistered United People's Party [17] [18]

Labor

Labor announced on 23 December 2024 that John Lister, a local school teacher and Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteer firefighter, would be its candidate for the by-election. ^[19]

Liberal

On 22 December 2024, the Liberal Party publicly confirmed that they indicated to contest the by-election. ^[20] On 11 January 2025, the party announced its candidate would be Steve Murphy, a real estate agent and former police officer who resides in Essendon West. ^{[21] [22]}

Others

The Victorian Greens announced on 10 January 2025 that Rifai A. Raheem, a community activist and union organiser, would be its candidate. ^[11]

How-to-vote cards

Candidates can provide how-to-vote cards with recommendations for voters on how to preference other parties. ^[23] Kodei Mulcahy and Paul Hopper did not recommend any preferences, while Aidan McLindon only suggested preferencing Hopper second. ^[24] Additionally, the Victorian Trades Hall Council registered a how-to-vote card, calling for Liberal candidate Steve Murphy to be preferenced last. ^[25]

Candidate	How-to-vote card (read column top down)
	GRN	LIB	FFP	LCV	Jos.	VS	AJP	Mul.	McL.	Hop.	ALP	Moi.
	Rifai A. Raheem (GRN)	1	10	12	3	11	2	4				2	7
	Steve Murphy (LIB)	6	1	2	9	3	8	9				8	11
	Matt Emerson (FFP)	12	2	1	12	10	9	11				9	4
	Xavier Menta (LCV)	4	9	11	1	9	4	2				3	8
	Munish Joshi (Ind.)	8	5	6	5	1	10	6				10	3
	Sue Munro (VS)	2	11	9	7	5	1	3				5	6
	Shohre Mansouri Jajaee (AJP)	5	8	10	2	7	3	1				4	5
	Kodei Mulcahy (Ind.) [26]	11	12	7	10	4	11	12	1			12	12
	Aidan McLindon (Ind.) [27]	10	3	3	11	8	12	10		1		11	9
	Paul Hopper (Ind.) [28]	7	4	4	8	12	7	8		2	1	6	2
	John Lister (ALP) [29]	3	7	8	6	2	5	7				1	10
	Moinuddin (Ind.) [30]	9	6	5	4	6	6	5				7	1

Results

2025 Werribee state by-election ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Steve Murphy	12,207	28.98	+3.65
	Labor	John Lister	12,168	28.89	−16.47
	Independent	Paul Hopper	6,134	14.56	+8.66
	Greens	Rifai A. Raheem	3,190	7.57	+0.80
	Victorian Socialists	Sue Munro	3,008	7.14	+3.54
	Legalise Cannabis	Xavier Menta	2,316	5.50	+5.50
	Family First	Matt Emerson	1,827	4.34	+1.84
	Animal Justice	Shohre Mansouri Jajaee	401	0.95	−0.94
	Independent	Munish Joshi	352	0.84	+0.84
	Independent	Aidan McLindon	270	0.64	+0.64
	Independent	Aijaz Moinuddin	164	0.39	+0.39
	Independent	Kodei Mulcahy	80	0.19	+0.19
Total formal votes			42,117	93.34	+3.06
Informal votes			3,003	6.66	−3.06
Turnout			45,120	79.91	−5.67
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	John Lister	21,405	50.82	−10.10
	Liberal	Steve Murphy	20,712	49.18	+10.10
	Labor hold		Swing	−10.10

References

1. "Over 56,000 enrolled in Werribee District before by-election". Victorian Electoral Commission. 16 January 2025. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
2. "Werribee District results". Werribee District by-election. Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC). Retrieved 19 February 2025.
3. "Map of Werribee District". Victorian Electoral Boundaries Commission.
4. "2021 Werribee (Western Metropolitan), Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics". www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
5. Green, Antony (11 January 2023). "VIC22 – 2-Party Preferred Results and Swings by District". Antony Green's Election Blog. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
6. VIC 2021 Final Redistribution, ABC News. [Retrieved 1 January 2023.
7. Full preference distributions – 2022 State election, Victorian Electoral Commission. [Retrieved 17 June 2023.
8. Green, Antony (10 January 2023). "VIC22 – Werribee – Analysis of Preferences". Antony Green's Election Blog. Archived from the original on 18 December 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
9. "Werribee District results". Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 25 October 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
10. "Find Werribee District by-election candidates". Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
11. "Greens announce candidate for Werribee Rifai A. Raheem". Victorian Greens. 10 January 2025. Archived from the original on 10 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
12. Kennedy, Jaidyn (14 January 2025). "Candidates named for by-election". Star Weekly. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
13. Green, Anthony (16 January 2025). "Werribee by-election 2025". ABC News. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
14. "Twelve Candidates, One Seat: The Fight for Werribee Heats Up!". Wyndham TV. 24 January 2025. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
15. Lucas, Cade (2 December 2024). "New party to challenge Labor". Star Weekly. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
16. Eddie, Rachel; Rooney, Kieran (17 December 2024). "With state byelections looming, there is no clear successor to Pallas". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 24 December 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
17. "Werribee By-elections 2025 - Aijaz For Werribee". United People's Party. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
18. "Munish Joshi, Aijaz Moinuddin candidates in Feb 8 Werribee by-election". Bharat Times. 31 January 2025. Archived from the original on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
19. Clarke, Mitch (23 December 2024). "John Lister named as Labor's Werribee candidate". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 23 December 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
20. "Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto apologises to Moira Deeming, calls new vote". ABC News. 22 December 2024. Archived from the original on 22 December 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2024. Since last Friday's meeting it has become clear that there is now a definite absolute majority of my colleagues who want this issue resolved with her readmission so that we can collectively put this behind us and concentrate on the Prahran and Werribee by-elections and holding the Allan Labor Government to account.
21. Yu, Andi (11 January 2025). "Victorian Liberal party announces real estate agent as candidate for Werribee by-election". ABC News. Archived from the original on 11 January 2025. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
22. Cook, Henrietta (11 January 2025). "Liberals unveil Werribee candidate ahead of crucial byelection". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 30 January 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
23. "How-to-vote card guidelines". Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
24. "Werribee District how-to-vote cards". Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
25. "On your ballot paper, number every box in order of your preference, and put Liberal Steve Murphy LAST" (PDF). Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
26. "Vote 1 Kodei Mulcahy" (PDF). Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
27. "Where's McLindon?" (PDF). Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
28. "VOTE 1 PAUL HOPPER" (PDF). Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
29. "How to vote for John Lister" (PDF). Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
30. "Vote 1 MOINUDDIN Aijaz in Two Easy Steps" (PDF). Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2025.

External links

• "Werribee District by-election" at Victorian Electoral Commission