Central Highlands Province

Central Highlands Province was an electorate of the Legislative Council of Victoria, Australia. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1976 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a safe seat for the Liberal Party for most of its history, but was a surprise gain for the Labor Party in their landslide victory at the 2002 state election. The electorate was abolished in the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.

It covered a broad area of the state between the outer fringes of Melbourne and the Victorian Alps. In 2002, when it was last contested, it covered an area of 24,164 km² and included the towns and suburbs of Alexandra, Benalla, Bright, Broadford, Coldstream, Diamond Creek, Euroa, Healesville, Hurstbridge, Lilydale, Mansfield, Marysville, Mount Beauty, Plenty, Seymour, Yan Yean, Yarra Glen and Yea.

Members for Central Highlands Province

Member 1		Party	Year
	Jock Granter	Liberal	1976	Member 2		Party
			1979		Fred Grimwade	Liberal
			1982
			1985
			1987		Marie Tehan	Liberal
	Geoff Craige	Liberal	1988
			1992		Graeme Stoney	Liberal
			1996
			1999
	Rob Mitchell	Labor	2002

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Central Highlands Province

2002 Victorian state election: Central Highlands Province

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Rob Mitchell	57,245	44.3	+1.1
	Liberal	Cath Marriott	48,352	37.4	−16.6
	Greens	Janet MacKenzie	12,206	9.4	+8.4
	National	Rozi Parisotto	9,563	7.4	+6.5
	Democrats	Jos Vandersman	1,925	1.5	+0.8
Total formal votes			129,291	96.7	−0.2
Informal votes			4,470	3.3	+0.2
Turnout			133,761	94.1
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Rob Mitchell	70,460	54.5	+9.8
	Liberal	Cath Marriott	58,831	45.5	−9.8
	Labor gain from Liberal		Swing	+9.8

References

• "Find a Member". State Government of Victoria. Retrieved 17 July 2025.